


Mutes and Humans don't mix

by Snackleggg



Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Feels, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hugo doesn't become Scarlemange, Hugo is a good older brother, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kipo lives on the surface her whole life, Molly Yarnchopper is a good friend, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Sibling Bonding, kipo being a cat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24854842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snackleggg/pseuds/Snackleggg
Summary: They left conveniently a few minutes before knocking started at their door. They made their way through the vents and to Hugo's room. They hadn't been able to visit him the last few days so he was ecstatic to see them. Lio open the door to his glass cage and Hugo immediately hugged him but their reunion was cut short when Dr. Emilia walked in to check on Hugo since she found the apartment of the two scientists empty.She immediately called her other scientists for back up and Song immediately gave Hugo the sleeping Kipo."Go, through the vent, take this backpack. Don't worry about us just keep your little sister safe" was the last thing Hugo had heard Song say before she turned to face Emilia.Hugo did as he was told as he quickly took the backpack and made sure he wouldn't drop the baby as he practically ran through the tight space of the vent.Little did Hugo know that on the other side of that vent he would meet a world that wouldn't hesitate to throw him into chaos but as long as he had his little sister, as long as he had Kipo, he would be fine.
Relationships: Kipo Oak & Everyone, Scarlemange & Everyone
Comments: 301
Kudos: 499





	1. A Timbercats respect!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New home

Hugo had just escaped the burrow. The only place he had ever known. Lio and Song, the people who were the closest thing he had to parents, had been discovered last minute. They were buying Hugo time. Time to do what exactly? Escape, find a better life, get away from Emilia, and-

Hugo looked down at what he held in his arms. This was Lio and Song's newborn daughter, his little sister. They had trusted him with the responsibility to take care of her. Hugo noticed that she was warped in his blanket but he wasn't jealous or angry. As the little human woke up from her sleep she looked up at him with big pink eyes, obviously curious to who he was, Hugo decided that he would give much more than just his blanket if it meant keeping her safe.

He tried to look through his memories and remember what Song and Lio had told him they would name her. Finally he came across the memory.

"Kipo" He said, trying out how the name sounded. Kipo in response held out one of her tiny little baby hands. She was so small, so fragile, the tiniest thing could be lethal to her. Hugo needed to do everything in his power to protect her. And that included finding them a new, safe home.

Reluctantly Hugo teared his eyes away from his sister to take a look at his surroundings. It was night time, the stars were out in full for every being to see. Hugo stared at them with wonder. He had climbed up the old abandoned building that was covered in vines that shielded the burrow from view of the outside world. The surface was so big. Hugo could see the ruins of city's long forgotten and a large dense forest stretched infront of him. He could see mountains barely visible in the distance and a few giant dogs sleeping around. Where those mega mutes? They were huge!

Hugo made a mental to do list. First he had to get as far away from the burrow and Emilia as possible, then he had to find a safe home for him and Kipo and then well.... the third step was a work in progress but he would have to raise his little sister. Hugo didn't know the first thing about babies but a quick rifle through the bag Song had given him proved that she was as prepared as always and a baby book was packed in there so maybe Hugo wouldn't accidently end up killing his sister because he was to ignorant to find the problem. Just the thought of Kipo not being around anymore sent shivers up his spine and he looked back down at her to make sure she was fine. She had moved on from staring at him to staring at their surroundings, she seemed especially enraptured by the moon that was full and bright in the night sky.

"I'm Hugo, your older brother" Hugo said to her. Even if he didn't know much about babies he still knew that she probably had no idea what he was saying and wouldn't remember this but that was fine. Hugo thought it was only polite to introduce himself.

Kipo held out her arm again and this time Hugo gave her his hand which she examined before holding onto tightly, or at least as tight as a newborn could hold. It seemed the excitement of meeting a new person had tired her out as she soon fell back asleep.

Hugo climbed down the other side of the building, being very careful not to wake Kipo. He walked away from his home and managed to make it over the bridge that was on verge of collapse. He walked through the dense forest, being hyper aware of every little sound and movement. He walked through the ruins of the old world, tall buildings threatening to crumble and plants growing in every crevice they could find. Hugo didn't stop walking the whole night. Sunrise came sooner than expected and Hugo couldn't keep walking. His feet ached painfully and sweat was starting to form at his brow though he wiped it away, making sure none fell on Kipo.

He sat on an old decrepid bench. He had found his way into what he could only assume was a park in the old world but now it was overgrown and the trees were the tallest he had ever seen so far.

Kipo woke up suddenly and started crying. Hugo started panicking. He quickly got out the baby book, there were 3 common things that babies cried about. Either they needed a change of diaper which Hugo was not looking forward to, either they needed burping or they were hungry. The last option seemed the most likely so he quickly fished out the baby formula and a bottle of water. Mixing it in the bottle he then carefully started to feed it to Kipo. She took it in stride as she greedily gulped down the baby formula. It said in the book that it was usually supposed to be at a certain temperature but they couldn't afford to be picky and Kipo didn't seem to mind.

After chugging definitely more than a baby her age should be able to Kipo was content and playfully pet Hugo's fur. Hugo felt his heart swell at how cute and innocent his sister was. He knew that the surface was very dangerous and he was lucky so far to not have ran into any hostile mutes.

Of course the moment he thought about it he was immediately proven wrong. There was a loud yowl and the sound of someone running. Hugo snapped his head up to see a mute. The mute looked like an animal he had seen in a picture book he was given by Lio, a cat he thinks it was called. Said cat mute was taller and scarier looking than in the book. They wore a flannel shirt and glared daggers at Hugo as they held an axe out.

"Trespassers!" He hissed, it was no exaggeration he literally hissed.

Kipo was squirming slightly now, she had been startled by the noise but Hugo made sure to cradle her to calm her even if only a little. He kept his eyes glued on the mute infront of him the whole time. Behind the mute came 3 other mutes who looked quite similar. They were all cats, all wore flannel, all had axes and all of them were glaring daggers at him.

One with a white coat and icy blue eyes stepped up next to the one directly infront of Hugo.

"What are you doing here on Timbercat territory?" She asked, her glare softened a bit when she saw Kipo.

"I- um... we can't go back to our home so we were looking for a new one. We were just passing through so well get out of your territory as soon as possible" Hugo stammered out. It took everything in him to not start wildly panicking because if he panicked then he knew Kipo would panic and probably start crying.

"Ha! You think you can trespass and then just get away scot free? Yumyan will probably want to hear about this" One of the cats behind the white one said grufly.

Hugo's breathing got a little faster. What did these mutes want? Were they going to hurt them? Had Hugo just failed in protecting Kipo? He knew he shouldn't have stopped walking.

"Cut them some slack will ya!" The white one suddenly said "In case you're blind these guys are just kittens! Much too young to be travelling without parents, especially that one" She said with a gesture to Kipo who had started to calm down a little but was still startled by the yelling.

"Well Molly what do we do with em?" Asked the first one who had approached.

"We can't just leave them to wander, especially with that deathstalker that was spotted wandering our territory" The white one, Molly, said and Hugo was thankful she seemed nice but also he wondered what a deathstalker was.

Like invoking its name was summoning it there was the sound of something scurrying across the forest floor and Hugo scrunched his nose slightly at the unfamiliar and strange smell.

"Of course, just our day. The troublemaker decides to show up right now" Molly said as she faced something that was behind Hugo. Immediately he got up and turned around. He was faced with a giant.... scorpion he thinks he heard Lio call them. Though this scorpion had three tails and could easily crush him in its pincer unlike the preserved scorpions he saw back at the burrow which were tiny and had only one tail.

"Timbercats attack!" Molly yelled and immediately the three other mutes, Timbercats, started charging at the scorpion and destroying the bench with their axes in the process.

The scorpion seemed to have no patience for them as it knocked all three away with its pincer without much effort. Hugo's heart was racing. He held Kipo tightly. The scorpion turned towards where he, Molly and Kipo were. It started approaching them. Molly readied her axe but Hugo didn't notice. All he could think about as the scorpion got closer and closer was how he failed. He had promised to protect Kipo and keep her safe but now she would lose her life, all because he needed to stop for a break and didn't keep walking. All because he was selfish in wanting himself to recover first instead of focusing on the fact that Kipo needed a safe and secure home.

Now Kipo was going to die before she had even got to live any life worth living. She had never got to have her first birthday, she wasn't even a month old! She had never got the chance to run around freely, to play games like hide and seek, to make friends, to even learn to speak, to hear stories of her amazing and brave parents. She would never get the chance to even see what the world was and it was all his fault. At this point Kipo was very distressed, she looked around confused but also very scared.

Then her eyes met Hugo's and even though Hugo didn't know it at the time all his panic and fear was very evident on his face.

At this Kipo seemed to pause in her confusion. Then her eyes trailing to the scorpion who's middle tail was about to come down on them. Apparently she found the source of Hugo's distress and decided to do something about it. As the tail came down Hugo watched in slow motion as Kipo's expression contorted into one of rage, could babies even feel rage that early in life? Her pupils became slits, almost exactly how the Timbercats pupils were. She reached her arm out at lighting speed, so fast it seemed more of a reflex than an active decision. Just as fast as her arm moved it grew fur and became noticeably bigger and bulkier. Black claws came from this newly formed paw and Kipo slashed at the scorpions tail, knocking it off course and giving it an indent that it would surely remember.

The scorpion seemed frightened at this. It's prey which was helpless just a few seconds ago suddenly managed to attack its greatest tool, how could it not be scared? The scorpion quickly turned around and ran, disappearing into the undergrowth of the forest.

Everyone just stood there shocked. The rage in Kipo had disappeared and was replaced by her starting to cry.

Hugo just looked down at her, still in shock. He placed his hand on the furry.... jaguar arm. Then a memory slapped Hugo in the face, a memory he should have remembered sooner of a conversation he had with Song and Lio.

~~~

"Song what if.... what if your baby doesn't like me?" Hugo asked Song out of seemingly nowhere.

"What? Why wouldn't they like you?" She asked as she crouched down to his eye level.

"Well Dr. Emilia might convince them that I'm nothing but a lab experiment subject, like how she convinced all the other humans...." Hugo said, he didn't dare meet Song's eyes and looked anywhere but her.

"Oh Hugo... I promise that Dr. Emilia wont ever get the chance to put those thoughts in their head. And anyway I'm sure they will treat you like an older brother" Song said encouragingly and Hugo finally managed to look up at her. He only found honesty in her eyes.

"And there is the other reason" Lio said vaguely from near by.

"What... other reason?" Hugo asked. Song and Lio exchanged a look in a seemingly silent conversation.

"You'll find out after their born but for now all you need to know is that they are very important. Not only to humans but also to mute kind" Song said. The two left no long after as it was Hugo's time for bed. He did ponder for a bit what they meant.

~~~

"Oh, that's what they meant" Hugo muttered to himself. Kipo stopped crying when he placed his hand on hers. She held on tightly and Hugo found she had much more strength now.

"Ow, ow, ow Kipo could please put it away or at least retract your claws?" Kipo let the go of her firm grasp. She stretched her paw as she yawned before settling down to take a nap now that she probably had an adrenaline crash.

Molly finally seemed to snap out of her shock as she shook her head "Wow, I did not see that coming. They've got some real cat in them! Say, what's your names? I'm Molly Yarnchopper" Molly introduced herself.

"Oh! I'm Hugo and this is my baby sister Kipo" Hugo introduced them. The other Timbercats seemed to be getting their bearings back aswell.

"Baby sister? You two don't look very alike. I mean I even thought she was human for a second" Molly observed.

"Um well, we aren't related by blood but we had the same people raise us- or at least Kipo's parents raised me.... and um that's because she is human but I guess she is also part mute..." Hugo was still trying to process this new information about his little sister.

"Well she seems real fierce for a kitten like herself. Tell ya what, you said you were looking for a home? I'm sure you and your sister would be more than welcome to stay with the Timbercats" Molly said. The other Timbercats seemed to agree.

"What? Really? It's no trouble?" Hugo asked in disbelief.

"Yep, no trouble. We've got pleanty of food and homes. Plus your little sister just saved our tails, that deathstalker won't be coming back into our territory after that nasty scratch she gave them!" Molly said with a smile before she started walking away.

"Come on, Timbercat village is this way" She said. The other Timbercats followed her without another word and Hugo had to quickly pinch himself to make sure he really wasn't dead or having some venom induced dream. After that he followed the Timbercats silently.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the village. Balls of yarn to swing on hung from trees that had homes and beautiful art carved into them. The one that caught Hugo's eye the most was the largest tree at the centre of the village. It was covered top too bottom with carvings that looked detailed and delicately crafted.

Molly showed him to the large dining hall where all the Timbercats would eat dinner together every night. There were a few scattered in the chairs though Hugo had seen most of them outside, climbing, cutting trees, craving, and just generally going about their day without a care in the world.

In the centre of the dining hall was a large throne like place that instantly reminded Hugo of the kings he read about in his books. On said throne like chair was another Timbercat. He had gray fur and piercing pink eyes. He was larger than all the other Timbercats Hugo had seen so far. As he sat on the throne like seat tuning his guitar axe Hugo couldn't help but come to the conclusion he was most likely the leader of this village of mutes.

"Yumyan Hammerpaw! We found some trespassers today in our territory" One of the Timbercats said but Molly stepped in quickly before this Yumyan could get the wrong idea.

"Yes, a mute and his little sister. They are just kittens and are searching for a home. While we were talking with them the deathstalker that had been roaming our territory showed up. I thought I was as good as fish in a barrel but the younger kitten saved me and the deathstalker was scared away by a nasty scratch she gave it" Molly said and Hugo couldn't help but shift nervously a little.

"Well, that's impressive. And very brave. If you two are looking for a home you can stay here in Timbercat village" Yumyan said and Hugo was very much not expecting that.

"If you say it's okay then we would be very grateful to stay" Hugo said after a moment of hesitation.

Yumyan simply nodded to them before addressing Molly "Molly Yarnchopper, can you show them around and where they'll be staying?" He asked and Molly nodded.

Hugo was in a slight daze as Molly lead him out of the dining hall.

"See? Told you you'd be more than welcome" Molly said and Hugo let out a breath of air he didn't know he was holding in.

"I'm guessing that was your leader. He was very nice to let us stay" Hugo said to Molly and Molly just snorted.

"Yumyan is a real softy when it comes to kittens, he would have probably let you stay anyway" Molly said with a knowing smile.

"Uh yeah, about that um... why do you keep calling us 'kittens'?" Hugo asked and Molly seemed to contemplate in thought for a second.

"It's.... how we refer to our young. Different mutes call their young different things, like the mod frogs call them tadpoles. Since you were raised by humans you would refer to them as children or kids" Molly explained and Hugo nodded. That made sense.

"Alright we have some vacant homes over there. You can pick which one you want. If you want food you go to the dining hall, we have ingredients in the kitchens. There's a river down that way if you need a drink other than maple syrup. Pierre's house is over there, I recommend you stay clear of it. That's the ancient scratching tree. It's sacred to our culture so be careful to not show any disrespect to it. If you need anything else then just find me, I'll be by the axe carving hole. Oh, and dinner in the dining hall starts just after sun down" Molly told him as she pointed at everything around. Hugo eagerly absorbed all the information before nodding in understanding.

Molly left him alone and he went up to one of the vacant homes which was closer to the dining hall. He didn't want to risk being away from safety if a mega mute attacked and the dining hall seemed the safest place to be.

Hugo was absolutely astonished by the home. It was mostly made of wood, carved into the tree so not surprising. There were no doors, though you did have to climb a bunch of stairs to get to it. There were 3 openings where you could come in from, very similar to the entrance of the dining hall but on a slightly smaller scale. There seemed to be 2 floors. The first was the main living area. There was a couch like place but instead of cushions like the humans had it was leaves and moss, though when hugo sat down it was just as comfy. There was also a fire place near the couch which was strange since the whole house was made of wood but thankfully the fire place seemed to be made of stone. He carefully placed his backpack on the large table that wasn't far from the couch. There were shelves and areas where he could put decorations. On the other side of the room from the couch was what seemed to be a kitchen. There was a wooden bucket which Hugo guessed water went in for washing things up. There were cupboards. Some were empty, some had what looked like wooden plates, some had wooden mugs. No utensils or cutlery Hugo noticed. Of course as cats they had claws so they probably didn't need them but Hugo made a mental note to get some. In the middle of the room was a large column of wood that seemed to be the core of the tree, it obviously provided the support so the tree didnt fall from having a home built into it.

A stair case lead to the second floor which had the centre bit open to look down at the main living area, thankfully there were railings to stop anyone from falling. The second floor was slightly smaller. It had windows near the ceiling, or more like just holes that were supposed to be windows. There was a bookcase and what looked like a dresser which when Hugo opened it he found it filled to the brim with flannel shirts of different colours. Then there was a master bed, it was similar to couch that instead of pillows and a mattress it was leafs and moss but again it was just as comfortable. Now Hugo noticed the lack of a bathroom but then he remembered that these were still cats and they probably did their business outside before burying it. Also getting plumping into a tree was definitely out of their carpenter reach. And the core of the tree also went through the second floor.

Hugo looked down at Kipo who he had been holding this whole time. She had woken up at some point and was looking around astonished. Hugo noticed that her jaguar arm had gone back to normal even though it had been a jaguar all the way until they arrived at the house.

"Huh, feeling safe enough not to scratch anyone?" Hugo asked, more to himself than Kipo since he knew she couldn't actually answer him though she gave him her best shot by making a few adorable baby noises in reply.

Hugo went back downstairs and took the baby book out of the bag. He needed to absorb as much information on how babies worked as quickly as possible. After reading a few chaptets he found one that mentioned something called a crib. Apparently they were beds especially made for babies. They were small enough for them and had railings so the baby wouldn't accidently tumble out in their sleep.

He sighed as he put the book down, commissioning that crib would have to be a priority. First though he briefly fed Kipo before burping her and unfortunately had to change her diaper which with his enhanced smell was not pleasant to say the least.

After finally finishing the baby maintenance he left their house with Kipo in one arm and the baby book in another. It didn't take long for Hugo to find the axe carving hole. Molly greeted them as soon as she spotted them.

"Hey Hugo, did ya get settled into your new home alright?" Molly asked, stopping in the middle of her carving something.

"Yes, the homes here are amazing. I can only imagine the skill that goes into that carpentry but that's not why I'm here" Hugo said, trying not to go off topic.

"Oh? What do ya need then?" Molly asked and Hugo hesitated for a second before answering.

"Um, I need you to build me a crib for Kipo. If you have the time of course" Hugo said, he didn't want to forget his manners.

"What's a crib?" She asked, clearly confused.

Hugo opened the baby book with one hand and found the page that had a diagram of a crib and how to assemble one.

"This" he said giving the book on the open page to Molly "It's what humans usually put their children in when they are very young, like before they can walk. Human children are much more fragile than other creatures so they have to have this specific place to sleep in for them to be safe" Hugo tried his best to explain. Molly seemed to understand as she nodded along.

"Yeah, I think these instructions are clear enough for me to make one. How soon do you need it? If I start now I could probably finish by tomorrow" Molly said as she looked over to a pile of freshly cut wood.

"Oh as soon as you can please, if its not to much trouble" Hugo asked and Molly gave him a soft smile.

"Look kitten you don't have to be so formal with me. I'll do everything in my power to make sure you and your sister are safe and comfortable here, you lost your parents so some adult has got to look out for you" Molly said as she turned around and started chopping away at the wood "Mind if a borrow this until tomorrow to look at the instructions?" Molly asked while gesturing to the baby book.

"No I don't mind, and thank you again" Hugo said before leaving. Kipo was playing with his fur as they came back to their house.

Hugo basically collapsed on the couch, exhaustion starting to set in. He looked down at Kipo who was animated and babbling random noises.

"So, step 1 and 2 on the to do list are checked off" Hugo said. He then looked up at the ceiling of the second floor which he could see passed the railings. 

"And well get step 3 done easy with the Timbercats help... huh. So this is our new home" Hugo mused and Kipo continued being happy and babbling nonsense to him without a care in the world.


	2. Babysitting is harder than it looks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New family

Hugo and Kipo had been at their new home for nearly a week now. It was early in the morning when Molly came to check up on them only to find Hugo pacing around the living room in a panic.

"Hey! You'll ware a hole into the floor pacing like that" Molly called, startling Hugo who hadn't noticed her come in.

"Oh, morning Molly" Hugo gave a strained smile.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong with Kipo?" Molly asked, getting straight to business as usual.

"Oh no no no. Kipo is fine!..... right now...." Hugo said as he started nervously biting his finger nails.

"Is there something I can do to help? What's got you so worked up kitten?" Molly asked and Hugo just sighed in defeat as he flopped onto the couch.

"It's just Kipo's ran out of food" Hugo said while looking over mournfully at the backpack that still held most of his belongings. Despite being there a week Hugo hadn't gotten around to unpacking yet. Kipo was currently sleeping in her crib upstairs.

"Well, we've got plenty of food in the kitchens in the dining hall" Molly tried helping even if she couldn't understand the problem. Hugo shook his head.

"No, it's not that. See, baby humans have to eat baby formula until they are old enough to eat solid foods" Hugo said.

Molly nodded, starting to understand the problem "Like how kittens need to drink milk when they are first born" she said more to herself than to Hugo.

Hugo nodded "Yes. We had enough baby formula to last 2 weeks but Kipo has a ferocious appetite, I think it has to do with her being part mute. Anyway there is only enough for 2 more of Kipo's usual meals before we run out" Hugo explained.

"Well maybe you could go into the city and find some more? I'm sure no mutes taken it, they wouldn't have use for something like that" Molly suggested and Hugo sighed.

"That's the problem. When we were wandering I did spot a place that had baby formula and alot from what I saw but I can't just leave. Kipo needs me here to take care of her and I'm afraid we might run into a hostile mute on our way over so I can't take her with me" Hugo said and looked down at his feet in defeat.

Molly thought for a second before snapping her fingers "Then we can take care of her" She said confidently and Hugo just looked at her strangely.

"You.... and the Timbercats would take care of Kipo?" He asked in disbelief.

"Oh course! You're part of the community now. I'm sure Yumyan would also gladly agree to help watch her while your gone for a day or so. Don't tell him I told you but he has grown very fond of Kipo even if he hasn't been able to see her much accept at dinner" Molly explained.

Hugo seemed lost in thought for a second before sighing and he looked at Molly with a smile "Alright, it'll only be for a day at most"

Hugo got up and he quickly grabbed the baby book "In here is everything you'll need to know.... do Timbercats know how to read?" Hugo asked after the thought struck him.

"Some do, some don't. It isn't exactly a mandatory thing to learn. I know how to read quite well but Yumyan's is.... mediocre at best" Molly said as she took the book in her paws.

"Then I trust you to be able to do most of the work?" Hugo asked, still a little unsure.

"You can count on me. But like I said when we first met a kitten like you shouldn't be travelling the surface alone. Should I ask a cat to escort you?" Molly asked but Hugo shook his head.

"I don't want to unconvince anyone else. It'll be a quick journey and if I do run into any hostile mutes well... I have pretty good stamina so I'll be able to out run them" Hugo said. His stamina was the only good thing that came out of the hours he would be forced to run on that treadmill by Dr. Emilia. Just the thought of her made Hugo's hand twitch and feet feel exhausted but he quickly pushed those memories away in favour of the current task.

Hugo quickly emptied the backpack so he could carry as much baby formula as he could find in it. He told Molly about Kipo's usual eating times, how to change her diaper since it was a tricky thing to master and how long she usually stayed asleep.

"She is asleep in her crib right now but she'll wake up soon for her breakfast" Hugo said as he stood by the stairs leading down to the forest floor. 

"Right. Don't worry, Kipo is in safe paws" Molly reassured and Hugo nodded. He trusted her.

After that Hugo left the village.

~~~

Molly went upstairs and sat on the bed next to the crib. She looked through the baby book Hugo had given her and wow. Humans were way more complex and fragile than she first thought. It wasn't long until Kipo woke up and stated squirming, tears threatening to fall as she was about to start crying. Right, she was hungry.

Thankfully Hugo had prepared her breakfast before he left so all Molly had to do was hold Kipo and feed it to her.

Molly picked up Kipo carefully and started feeding her without much trouble and only now did she realise just how small Kipo was. If Molly wasn't careful she could easily hurt Kipo by accident. Kipo was so small Molly was pretty sure she could fit in only one of her paws but she held Kipo with both for extra precaution.

At first Molly had thought that Hugo exaggerated the amount Kipo ate but after Kipo finished a meal which was probably more food than some mutes got all week she started getting the feeling that Hugo was indeed not exaggerating. It's no wonder she finished all the formula so quickly.

After Molly gave her a burping she decided to go on a walk with Kipo. According to Hugo Kipo hated being cooped up in one place for too long and even though she was a baby that couldn't really process her surroundings she still liked being in different environments instead of just staying in the same one all the time.

Some Timbercats gave her a sideways glance but apart from that nobody payed much mind. Well almost nobody. Molly braced herself the moment she saw Yumyan who had probably just finished scratching by the scratching tree. Yumyan and her made eye contact, then his eyes trailed down to what she was holding in her arms. Immediately they lit up and if Molly didn't know any better she would have thought that he teleported the distance to her.

"Is that little Kipo!?" Yumyan practically squealed. Kipo squirmed a little in her star blanket at the sudden noise.

"Yes, it is and don't squeal like a 2 month old kit again. She is easily irritated by that" Molly said with a deadpan.

Yumyan nodded vigorously, not taking his eyes off of Kipo for a second.

"So why are you even taking care of her? Isn't Hugo usually very protective over her?" Yumyan asked as he reached a paw out to Kipo and she eagerly took his furry hand with her little baby one.

"Hugo needed to go out of the village to get her more baby formula. He entrusted her to me but he also thinks it's okay if you take care of her-" Molly was cut off in her explaining by Yumyan "A chance to spend time with the brave kit Kipo!? Who would ever pass that up?" Yumyan said, still completely enraptured by how Kipo was playing with his messy fur around his paw.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Humans are much more complex and fragile than even I initially thought. Also she has the appetite of a full grown mega bunny" Molly added the last bit almost like an afterthought.

"That makes her all the more perfect! The bigger the appetite the stronger the warrior!" Yumyan said confidently and even though Kipo didn't understand a word he said she started giggling a bit at his antics.

"Oooohhhh, can I hold her?" Yumyan asked. Molly sighed.

"Alright, I'm going to go and check on a project I commissioned to be finished. You can hold Kipo until I get back. Do. Not. Drop. Her. Hugo will have your head if she is hurt" Molly emphasized before carefully handing Kipo to Yumyan. Despite what the baby book said Kipo was a very behaved human baby. Maybe it had something to do with her being part mute? Molly didn't know. What she did know was that Kipo was patient and calm in most instances so there was no way Yumyan could screw this up. She had already gotten used to the amount of noise he made over the past week.

~~~

Molly left towards the axe carving hole and Yumyan looked down at the small kit in his arms.

Kipo yawned a little before looking at him with half closed eyes.

"You must be sleepy. Warriors like you need all the rest you can get" Yumyan said as he slowly walked towards the dining hall. By the time he got there Kipo had fallen asleep in his arms.

Yumyan sat down on his seat and Pierre was sat next to him. Yumyan couldn't tear his eyes away from the small pink and purple human. He knew one day she would grow up to be a fierce warrior that struck fear into the hearts of her enemies, if anyone was even foolish enough to be her enemy, but right then she was just a little kitten in his arms.

All was well in Timbercat village, Yumyan decided.

Then a young Timbercat who was barely older than a kitten themselves barrelled into the dining hall on a ball of yarn which had somehow broken off from its string. The young cat jumped off of the ball of yarn but the yarn kept going and crashed into one of the tables, knocking it over and all the chairs around it. This large abrupt noise startled Kipo awake but instead of what Yumyan was expecting, which was Kipo starting to cry, she instead jumped up high which with her underdeveloped legs Yumyan wouldn't have even thought possible.

Yumyan immediately got ready to catch her but she never came down. Instead now she had all four of her limbs turned into jaguar limbs and all four where clinging onto the ceiling for dear life with her claws. She seemed almost as startled as Yumyan was by the sudden development but she didn't start crying. Instead the little baby focused on staying as firmly attached to the ceiling as possible.

~~~

5 minutes. Molly hadn't even left for 5 minutes. When she got to the dining hall she found a table and few chairs destroyed by a ball of yarn that had somehow gotten it's string cut, their leader who they wrote songs about and praised as a legend was frantic and pleading with Kipo about something, and Kipo.... Kipo was stuck to the ceiling with all of her limbs being jaguar limbs.

Molly didn't know when or how or why. She just knew that if Hugo came back and saw this they were all doomed.

Immediately she decided to do the sensible thing and she just went and got a wooden ladder. She placed the ladder near Yumyan's chair and she gave a bored looking Pierre a deadpan before climbing up. By this point Yumyan had basically broken down onto the ground while trying to plead for Kipo to come down. Did the cat forget she was a baby that couldn't understand him or something?

When Molly got to the top she reached her paw out for Kipo to grab. Spotting it, Kipo did just that. First she carefully dislodged one of her arms and firmly grabbed onto Molly's paw and then repeated the process until she was no longer stuck upside down to the ceiling but instead was like koala, holding onto Molly for dear life.

Molly climbed down the ladder carefully and managed to slowly calm Kipo down. She also managed to get Kipo to stop acting like a koala and let her properly hold her in her arms. Molly picked up Kipo's discarded star blanket and wrapped her in it and only now did Kipo allow herself to start crying.

Finally Yumyan looked up from where he layed on the floor when he heard the crying.

"Kipo! You're safe! Thank you Molly!" Yumyan exclaimed as he jumped onto his feet.

Molly simply glared at him before gesturing to the broken table and chairs "Call some Timbercats over to help clean this up and we are not telling Hugo about this.... incident. He will murder us all" Molly enfisiesed and the point seemed to get across to Yumyan as he nodded.

She just sighed as she calmed Kipo down from her crying. Soon after that Kipo fell soundly asleep and Molly took her back to her and Hugo's house. She layed Kipo down in the crib and now a new problem showed itself. All of Kipo's limbs were still those of a jaguar. Hugo would definitely notice that. Molly could only hope they went back to normal by the time he arrived back.

About an hour later Molly had to feed Kipo her lunch and she would never get over how much such a small creature could consume.

Yumyan came by and apologised and explained what happened. Molly just sighed and it seemed someone would have to check how stable the yarn strings were.

Kipo seemed very keen on trying to play with Yumyan and he happily obliged. Soon enough she was tired out and yawned before falling asleep, her fur receding and her arms and legs going back to normal.

"Oh, looks like she's calmed down" Molly said with a sigh of relief. Yumyan left soon after that to get Pierre back on his leash.

Molly stayed and watched over Kipo. She woke up later and stayed awake for a little longer before falling back asleep. It was almost sun down when Hugo returned.

He was covered in mud and had a small scratch on his leg. The bag was bulky and probably full of the baby formula.

"What happened to you kitten?" Molly asked as Hugo landed face first on the couch, obviously exhausted.

"On my way back I ran into some ants and I accidentally disrupted their work flow. They didn't really like that too much" Hugo said. He was obviously out of breath and tired.

"Yeah those little things can be pretty nasty when you irritate them. Just be glad you got out with only a scratch" Molly said as she came down the stairs.

"I told you, I have good stamina" Hugo replied as he sat upright on the couch.

"Well Kipo is asleep upstairs. She's had her meals and the day was pretty uneventful" Molly said. She conveniently left out the part where Kipo had gotten startled and stuck to the ceiling. Hugo didn't need to worry about that on top of everything else.

"Thanks.... we might join dinner a little later" Hugo said as he put the backpack down on the table. Molly nodded before she left.

~~~

Hugo went down to the river to clean off the mud before going back to his home. After drying up and getting Kipo's dinner ready he went upstairs and found Kipo still asleep though a creeky floorboard gave Hugo away as Kipo blinked her eyes open at the sound.

"Hey Kipo, ready for dinner?" Hugo asked and Kipo smiled at him before babbling some baby nonsense. Hugo carefully picked Kipo up before heading downstairs and then heading to the dining hall after grabbing Kipo's freshly mixed and heated baby formula.

Even though they had only been there a week Hugo and Kipo had fallen into a pretty good routine when it came to dinner. They would head to the dining hall and Hugo would feed Kipo while he waited for his own food to cool down a little since it was always fresh out of the kitchen.

After feeding Kipo he would carefully position her in one of his arms while he used the other to eat his food, with cutlery he had managed to find hidden away in the back of a cupboard. Usually Molly sat next to him and Kipo and would hold Kipo if the meal he was eating was too challenging to eat with one hand.

Hugo made a mental note to commission a high chair for Kipo to sit in. After eating Kipo would usually get to babble any Timbercat who would listen ears off. Most of the Timbercats had already grown quite fond of her and the children, or kittens, were very excited for when Kipo would be old enough to play with them. An hour after dinner would have started Hugo and Kipo always headed back home to sleep. Even if Hugo didn't like admitting it he was a child still too and needed his rest if he was going to raise his baby sister. 

Thankfully Kipo waking up in the middle of the night to cry was not a common accorance but it still did happen from time to time and that night was no exception.

This time however Hugo couldn't find what was wrong. Maybe she had a nightmare? Could babies even have nightmares? Hugo tried looking through his memory for something that could calm her down when he suddenly came across an old one.

Song and Lio used to sing him a song to make him feel better. Hugo didn't remember the exact lyrics but he did remember the melody.

Hugo started humming it and it didn't take long for Kipo to calm down. She stared up at Hugo with wide eyes, unshed tears at the corners of her eyes.

"Don't worry. I wont let anything bad happen to you" Hugo promised and it wasn't long until Kipo had fallen back asleep.


	3. Milestones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New life

Time seemed to pass quickly for Hugo and Kipo. Before he even knew it they had been with the Timbercats for a month. A whole month of living with these mutes!

'A whole month since you lost Lio and Song too Dr. Emilia' A dark treacherous voice whispered in the back of his head. Lio and Song were fine, they had to be! They probably escaped and were now looking for Hugo and Kipo. But wait what if they didn't find them? What if they got hurt by a hostile mute? What if they were already-

Hugo was yanked from his thoughts when Kipo pulled his fur a little harder than usual. Everyday she seemed to be getting stronger. Now Kipo was 1 month old! Hugo couldn't believe she was growing so fast, even if there wasn't much evident difference from when she was a newborn. Hugo knew it was only a matter of time until she made her first big milestone. That milestone would either be her crawling or her teething.

~~~

Turns out the first milestone would be crawling. Kipo, now a 6 month old, had been put to sit and play with some toys Molly had carved for her. Hugo was about to help her sit upright again when she fell onto her hands but that didn't seem to be needed as she started crawling. CRAWLING! 

Hugo will forever deny any tears being shed and Molly knows better than to oppose him. Yumyan though was alot more emotional when he saw her crawl over to Pierre. Pierre had never really had any interest in Kipo even if she had much interest in him. The first chance she got she crawled to him to examine what he looked like up close.

~~~

The teething followed soon after that. Once all her baby teeth had grown in Hugo was happy he could feed her solid foods now and not have to go out every 2 weeks to find a bunch of baby formula.

Of course her large appetite soon transferred to her new eating habits. Kipo was not a picky eater by any means. She ate her vegetables and fruits like there was no tomorrow. Small cut up pieces of meat might as well have evaporated off her plate. Her sweet tooth knew no bounds and now Hugo had to go find a toothbrush and toothpaste so her new little baby teeth didn't rot. He also was the one brushing her teeth, at least until she was old enough to do it herself.

Hugo soon found what was behind her unusually large appetite and her lack of pickyness. She was part jaguar mute. Hugo read in a book about how jaguars were not picky eaters and were quite opportunistic. Basically, they ate anything edible without complaint.

~~~

Hugo came back to the village from a quick errand he had to run to get some more books for himself and some more toothpaste for Kipo. He found a big commotion happening in the dining hall.

When he walked in he found Yumyan crying tears of joy as Kipo attempted to stand, and then not only did she balance but she also took a step forward. And another one. And another one. Hugo just stared in disbelief.

'KIPO'S FIRST STEPS!' Hugo internally screamed and he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. By the fifth step Kipo had made it over to Pierre and she just slumped next to him and gave him her best shot at a hug. Hugo will proudly admit that he did cry tears of joy. He will also admit that he did get a camera after this for the sole purpose of documenting these events.

Kipo had been 11 months old when she took her first steps.

~~~

Kipo was more active and eager than ever. Ever since her first steps she would almost constantly try to practice walking whenever Hugo put her down. She was also very observant. Of course Hugo knew she would be smart just like her parents but she seemed to start looking at everything with an analytical eye not long after she took her first steps. She payed attention to every little piece of information her little baby brain could get its hands on. Social interactions, her surroundings, the foods she ate, the way cats carved, everything seemed like important information her by the way she eagerly payed attention to it all.

It was one morning when Hugo had discovered that Kipo's bouncing in her crib, which she started doing after she took her first steps as a way to get Hugo's attention instead of just crying, was starting to weaken the crib's infrastructure and one leg in particular needed to be replaced.

Molly came in that morning and Hugo put Kipo down on the couch as he got up to go talk to Molly about it.

"Hey kitten, you said something about the crib's leg needing replacement?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, Kipo hasn't been showing it any mercy. And by the way you know you can just call me Hugo" Hugo said and Molly leaned on her axe a bit.

"Hmmm, yeah I could but you're still just a little kitten. I'll call you Hugo when you're an adult" She said with a smirk and Hugo just sighed. Then the VERY unexpected happened.

"Hoo..... go" came a small voice from behind the two. They both looked towards the couch in an instant but there wasn't anyone else there, just Kipo.

Kipo made eye contact with Hugo and held out her little baby arms towards him.

"Hoogo" She said and Hugo was slapped in face with the realisation that Kipo just... talked.

Not only that, she said his name. Her first words were HIS name.

"Hoogo!" Kipo said with a giggle, apparently liking the way his name sounded.

Hugo just silently went up to Kipo and hugged her. She made her best efforts to hug him back as she repeated the name.

"Hoogo! Hoogo!" She said, practically bouncing in her seat from excitement. Hugo was also ecstatic.

His sister could talk! She could say his name! She knew who he was! Out of all her milestones so far that had been Hugo's favourite.

After that any time Kipo wanted Hugo's attention she just said his name. He never got sick of her saying it. It was a reminder of how far they had come. Though Hugo made a mental note to teach her how to pronounce it properly but when she was a little older.

~~~

Hugo really didn't know where the time went. Before he knew it a year had passed. A year since they came to their new home. A year since they escaped their old one and a year.... since Kipo had been born. Kipo was going to officially turn 1 years old that day.

Needless to say most were ecstatic, especially Hugo, Molly, and Yumyan. The day started normally. It was when the sun went down and dinner started that things really kicked into gear. The dining hall was more lively that usual which was definitely a feat.

All the cats Hugo passed greeted him and Kipo who was sat in his arm patiently waiting for her dinner. At the centre of the dining hall, just infront of Yumyan's throne like chair was a table that had been moved there. Hugo put Kipo down and held her hand as she clumsily walked with him to the table. He helped her up onto the chair and then when she sat down Molly came from the kitchen holding a cake. Obviously some ingredients had been put as stand in's for the real ones since these were still cats that couldn't stomach certain human foods, especially certain sweets, though Kipo would probably be fine but you could never be too careful.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Kipo! Happy birthday to you" The Timbercats all sang but Kipo seemed much more enraptured with the cake that was layed before her than the singing. Hugo helped blow the single candle out and he cut a piece of cake that was a bit larger than average to accommodate Kipo's appetite.

Kipo immediately dug in and that reminded Hugo he would need to teach her to use utensils. More cakes were brought out so every Timbercat could have a slice. Really this was how every Timbercat birthday was celebrated. The fact that they all did the same for Kipo that they would do for any other Timbercat made Hugo finally realise they had been fully accepted into the Timbercat community.

After quickly finishing her cake Kipo ate her proper dinner which she somehow still had room for in her stomach. Immediately after she finished Molly asked if she could speak with Hugo in private for a minute. Hugo gave Kipo to Yumyan who of course was always happy to get a chance to hold her.

Molly and Hugo left the dining hall and sat outside on the tree branch. The moon shined through the canopy and if Hugo squinted he could see some stars through it as well. If it weren't for the bright moonlight then Hugo wouldn't have been able to see since he couldn't see in the dark like the Timbercats could.

"What did you want to talk about?" Hugo asked as he continued to look up at the canopy.

"It's already been a whole year. Wow, time sure flies by" Molly said. Hugo was starting to get very nervous, Molly was always straight to the point with everything so why was she stalling now?

"Yeah, it sure has" Hugo replied, looking anywhere but Molly.

"1 year ago my patrol found you two sitting on an old bench in our territory. At first I wanted to let you off with a warning but then Kipo saved my life from that deathstalker. You told me you couldn't go back to your old home and the way you talked about Kipo's parents implies they weren't around to take care of her anymore" Molly said and Hugo's stomach dropped when he realised what she wanted to talk about.

"I know something happened, something probably bad but I don't know what and that's what I wanted to ask you. What happened Hugo? What led to you and Kipo being in our territory with no home or parents? I know you might not want to talk about it but you're just a kit, you shouldn't be forced to carry everything that happened alone and.... I find that it gets easier to think about it if you tell someone. Bottling it up and trying to forget will only end in disaster" Molly said as she looked expectantly at Hugo.

She was right. Every single passing day Hugo somehow managed to remind himself about his old life no matter how hard he tried to forget. Every single passing day Hugo became more and more scared that it was going to be the day Dr. Emilia found them, found a way to reverse the mutigen and attack their home, that Dr. Emilia or any of the humans from the burrow would show up and hurt Kipo.

Hugo looked down at the forest floor as he contemplated. Finally he came to a decision.

"We came from a burrow" Hugo said. He looked up at Molly and all he saw in her icy blue eyes was an invitation to continue. No judgement or urge to question more than what he wanted to reveal. Hugo took in a big breath before continuing.

"The main goal of the burrow was to find out what caused mutes ancestors to mutate and to-..... reverse the mutation, turning them back into normal animals. I was one of the few normal animals left from the old world and they did many tests and gave me many formulas until I developed the intelligence of a mute, basically I'm an artificially created mute"

"Kipo's parents were the scientists in charge of taking care of me. They treated me like their own child and when I did mutate they hid it from the other scientists so that they couldn't reverse the mutation. They were trying to protect mutes from their own kind. I don't how but they managed to make Kipo, their daughter, part mute. I think they hoped that she could be some sort of bridge between the two species"

Hugo took in another deep breath to prepare himself for the information he was about to relay "Not long after Kipo was born they came to my room so we could all escape to the surface together. But then..... Dr. Emilia, the head doctor, found us mid escape. They gave me Kipo and told me to run away and take care of her...... I don't know what happened to them, if they're safe, if they got out, if Dr. Emilia still has them, but I do know that I will do everything in my power to keep Kipo safe"

"When you found us we had only been travelling a few hours but I think we managed to get far away from the burrow" Hugo finished. He left out a few details that Molly didn't need to know, like the unique properties of his sweat or the extensive experimentation he underwent after Dr. Emilia found his intelligence despite Song and Lio's best efforts to hide it.

Molly seemed to be contemplating something as she absorbed all the information. Then she hugged him. It was so sudden Hugo wasn't sure what was happening for a moment but then he managed to ground himself.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that and Kipo is lucky to have an older brother like you. I'm sure your parents are proud of you" Was all Molly said and Hugo hugged her back as he broke down into tears he had been trying to hold back.

After Hugo managed to calm down they headed back inside. The Timbercats celebrated birthdays pretty similar to how humans did except that the only people who gave presents to the birthday mute was their family or close friends.

Molly gave Kipo a little wooden Pierre toy. Yumyan gave Kipo a tiny toy axe which thankfully was blunt so she couldn't cut herself on it.

Hugo had gotten Kipo a few children's books he found that he would read to her later.

At the end of the night before Hugo and Kipo left Molly insisted they took a group picture and so they did. Molly also gave Hugo a frame and when he got home he hung the framed picture up on the wall.

Kipo was rightfully exhausted so she went to sleep the moment Hugo put her in her crib.

He was safe, Kipo was safe. They were home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter was shorter than usual


	4. Hugo time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugo gets a day off

It was 6 months after Kipo's birthday. Hugo was sitting on the couch watching Kipo play with her toys when Molly came in.

"Knock knock, ha I'm kidding you don't have a door" Molly said as she walked up to them. Kipo immediately held out her arms to get picked up.

"Molly! Molly!" Kipo said excitedly, she had learned to say Molly's name a few days after her birthday.

Molly picked Kipo up per the baby's request "Hey there kitten, I got to talk to your brother about something real quick okay?" Molly said to the infant who seemed to barely process what she was talking about.

"Oh? What is it? Something happen?" Hugo asked as he stood up and Molly passed him Kipo.

"No but something is going to happen hopefully" Molly said vaguely.

"Oh, being ominous are we now?" Hugo said as he headed towards the stairs "It's Kipo's nap time now anyway so I'll be down in a second" He said as he went up to put said baby to sleep.

Molly didn't have to wait long before Hugo came back down and they went outside.

"Okay what is it?" Hugo asked.

"Alright Hugo what has it been now, a year and half?" Molly asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean? What is this about?" Hugo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean when was the last time you took a break?" Molly said and Hugo was taken aback a little.

"What? A break? A break from what?" Hugo asked and Molly looked like she wanted to face palm but resisted the urge.

"A break from raising Kipo. You know, some time where you can relax and don't have the constant worry of a baby over your head" Molly said but Hugo still didn't understand.

"Molly if you think I'm stressed from raising Kipo then I can assure you it's fine" Hugo said reassuringly but Molly didn't look convinced.

"You're a kit still. You should be carefree and relaxing and enjoying life to the fullest, not constantly having the responsibility of an parent. Tell me Hugo, when was the last time you got to be a kid? With no responsibilities or worries" Molly asked and Hugo had to actually stop and think. The last time had been....

"A few months, maybe even half a year before Kipo was born" Before he was discovered by Emilia was the unsaid part. Hugo remembered reading books with Lio and Song, playing the piano for them and talking about all his dreams he wanted to accomplish. It all seemed so silly now.

"But- but Kipo isn't any sort of burden! Lio and Song trusted me with her. I-" Hugo was cut off before he could go on any sort of rant.

"I'm not saying Kipo is a burden. I'm saying you're a kit too and you deserve a day where you don't have to be the adult, where you don't have to constantly worry about her. Like I said before, your parents are probably very proud of you but they would also be worried about your health and well being. I think you should take tomorrow off" Molly said firmly. Hugo only saw confidence in her eyes, confidence that what she was saying was true.

"Off to do what?" Hugo found himself asking.

"To do whatever you want. Start a hobby, read a book, socialize, explore, nap the whole day away even! Just do something that makes YOU happy without worry for Kipo. Me and Yumyan can take care of her" Molly insisted.

"But- but...." Hugo couldn't find the right words to argue. It was true. Everytime he went out to look for things for Kipo like diapers or children's books he would occasionally spot something he would want or like but he wouldn't ever get it since he would put Kipo first and focuse on getting back to the village as soon as possible.

Hugo just sighed in defeat "Alright, just keep Kipo safe" Hugo said to Molly and she nodded "Don't we always" She replied confidently.

The day continued as normal after that but the next day before Kipo had even woken up Hugo found himself down stairs just staring up at the ceiling.

"Something... I want to do..." Hugo mused. It wasn't long after that Molly came in and basically pushed Hugo out the door while he reminded her of all the care Kipo would need and Molly just reassuring him she knew.

Hugo just awkwardly walked out of the village towards the old city ruins. What was he to do? It seemed that answered itself as he found an old library which seemed mostly untouched.

Inside was still filled to the brim with books. Hugo looked through all the sections, looking for something that caught his eye. Then he found it. Hugo would admit he is a history nerd.

The history section was filled to the brim with books about the humans past. Times even long before the old world, an old old world if he thought about it.

"World war I, Industrial revolution.... ah ha! Kings and monarchs!" Hugo exclaimed as he found the book he was looking for. The concept of a king was always fascinating to Hugo. He had even wanted to be one himself at one point though a small childish part of himself still did.

Hugo spent the next few hours or so reading about the different kings and monarchies that had taken place over the years. At some point he had grabbed an old piece of paper and pencil. On the paper he wrote what made a good king and what made a bad one.

After he had finished about 3 books in the subject he concluded that his research had been extensive enough. Hugo found that the image of kings in history was greatly soured for him when he looked at how many managed to fail at it so spectacularly. The French and English kings drew his attention specifically.

There were good monarchies in which the countries flourished but they were buried under so many bad ones that either ended with assassinations or a revolution.

"Alright so being a king seems to be alot harder than I first anticipated" Hugo said to no one in particular. He got up and after taking a few fiction books for his own entertainment and putting them in his backpack he started his way to find something else to do. The sun was at it's highest point in the sky when he left the library. 

While he wandered he found a clothes shop. Hugo never really saw clothing as a necessity for himself and none of the Timbercats ever really said anything about it to him but this particular shop caught his eye because of a certain piece of clothing he spotted.

When Hugo came back out he wore a shirt which was very similar to the flannel that Timbercats wore except instead of being 1 colour it was 3. Red and blue stripes and purple where they intersected. The colours which were most commonly associated with a royal. He also wore some jeans as they completed the look he found.

Hugo also found a few clothes that Kipo could grow into when she was older. He put them in his backpack and then mental berated himself about still worrying for her but really how could he not? Kipo was his little sister, even on his 'day off' she would always be his top priority.

He wandered a bit more and did some of that exploring Molly had suggested. Of course anxiety that he might run into Dr. Emilia ate him alive but what kept him going was the small possibility of finding running into Lio and Song. Unfortunately he had no such luck. Instead all he found were old ruins, a few none talking mutes here and there which were mostly insects, and a large strange... clover shape? All the roads around it lifted up off of the ground to make this strange shape. Hugo briefly wondered what it could have been for before he started to head back to the Timbercat forest upon seeing it was going to be dark soon.

When he arrived he was greeted by the telltale signs of a milestone being reached. Hugo ran into the busy dining hall and found Kipo, who was sitting on Yumyan's lap, attempting to repeat the things she heard.

"No no, Yumyan Hammerpaw, not yummy yum" Yumyan said to her carefully, obviously trying to get her to remember his name since she knew Molly's and Hugo's.

"Yum Han paw!" She said excitedly and Yumyan seemed to slump in defeat.

"Maybe your name is too long for her to remember yet. How about.... she calls you Yums?" Molly suggested from a seat off to the side.

"I will not be referred to as Yums!" Yumyan insisted but his fate was already sealed.

"Yums! Yums!" Kipo said and held out her arms towards Yumyan. He immediately took it back and just excepted his new nickname.

'I wouldn't trade this for the world' Hugo found himself thinking.

~~~

Miles away from the Timbercat forest was the ruins of a burrow. A year and a half ago this burrow thrived and was on the verge of greatness. Now the humans who once inhabited it have left and it lay destroyed.

A few hamster mutes found the old ruins and all the supplies left behind. They were going to have a feast with all this food! Who would have been so foolish to leave so much!?

They heard a small giggle coming from one of the broken windows. When they turned around to investigate they found an orange gooey substance leaking out of an old lab.

"Do you guys wanna play a game?" The strange substance said in it's child like voice and the hamsters could only tremble in fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh nooooooooo short chapter. Don't worry the next one should be longer


	5. Control troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugo has to deal with a little jaguar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some light sprinkles of angst
> 
> A little bit of blood at the end. Nothing big but if you're squeamish then just dont read the part at the very end with the mod frogs, the rest is fine (no the frogs are not responsible for the blood)

Ah. Right. The jaguar thing. Hugo had somehow almost forgotten about it. It was now barely a month after Kipo's second birthday. She had grown up so much. Her intelligence and strength growing by the day

Hugo had just been making them some lunch when Yumyan decided to drop by. As in literally drop in from a window which Hugo isn't even going to question how he got in through. Unfortunately the surprise visit was surprising and Kipo jumped into the air and managed to land on one of the shelves.

Yumyan and Hugo just stared in slight disbelief as she grew a tail to balance so she wouldn't fall off of the shelf. The last time Kipo had transformed was when she had been bumped into by one of the older children when she had still been learning to walk. After that though she never really has any big incidents startle her badly enough to trigger it so everyone kind of forgot about it for a while.

Hugo got her down with a ladder and put her on the couch. Little Kipo finally noticed the tail and started examining and playing with it.

"Right.... I nearly forgot about that.... what.... are we going to do?" Hugo asked with uncertainty and Yumyan just tilted his head.

"Do about what?" Yumyan asked.

"About her powers! I mean what if they get out of control. It's obvious they're triggered by her feeling unsafe or over emotional. She is still too young to be able to control them properly. I just-" Hugo let out a huge sigh after failing to explain his worries but Yumyan didn't seem bothered by any of those prospects.

"She's got cat in her. You can't just repress it, it's part of who she is. Anyway every cat scratches things up when they first discover their claws, Kipo will be no different with her powers, just on a much more unique scale" Yumyan said and for once he actually sounded quite reasonable and knowledgeable.

"And with these powers she'll become a great warrior one day and slay all her enemies, of which she will have many!" Yumyan shouted, ruining the moment of emotional intelligence.

"Heh, let's just hope she'll be able to control them for now" Hugo said and Yumyan just shrugged.

Hugo looked back down at Kipo as she played with her tail in a way very similar to how he had seen some younger kittens doing "There is no one else like Kipo in the whole world. This will be hard" Hugo said more to himself than to Yumyan.

~~~

And hard it was as soon a new challenge presented itself.

Hugo watched as Kipo was playing with a Timbercat around her age. They were in the dining hall. Cinders and Kipo had been playing for about 10 minutes when Cinders came up with an idea.

"Kipo! Jumpy game!" Cinders said and Kipo gasped.

"Yes! Jumpy game! Jumpy game!" Kipo said excitedly.

"Um... what's jumpy game?" Hugo asked Cinders' parents.

"Oh it's a game Cinders plays with her brothers. Basically they see who can jump the highest and farthest. The winner gets the praise of the other, just standard kit games" Cinders' mother explained.

"Alright" Hugo said and he turned his attention back to Kipo and her friend. They had already started the game and it was just like Cinders' mother had described, just some 2 year olds jumping around, nothing that could hurt Kipo in anyway.

At least that is until Kipo got an idea. Kipo was smart, everyone knew this. Even for someone her age she was very observant of the world around her but Hugo hadn't realised exactly HOW observant she had been.

"Cindy! Look!" Kipo said and Hugo was left in sudden disbelief as her legs grew pink fur but not to the extent where it completely turned jaguar, the fur was just barely visible going a little bit past her pants. Then Kipo jumped and Hugo was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second. She jumped at least 5 feet into the air and then landed perfectly.

Cinders and her parents also looked baffled.

"I win!" Kipo announced proudly and she took a step back. Hugo had been so focused on the fact that she not only figured out she had powers but also how to use said powers that he didn't noticed how far away she had landed. More specifically how close she landed to the edge of the tree, landing outside the door but not exactly by the stairs.

"Wait Kipo!-" Hugo yelled as Kipo became unsteady when she stepped back and found no more ground for her to step on but apparently that wasn't a problem either as she instantly grew her tail for balance. She balanced her little toddler self and took a step away from the edge.

"I'm okay!" She yelled happily. Then Kipo just ran over to Cinders and continued playing with her. Cinders examined Kipo's tail closely and compared it to her own which was much fluffier than Kipo's.

Hugo was still on the verge of having a heart attack and Cinders' parents looked at him with worry.

Later when they went back home after dinner Kipo still had her fur and tail out. Usually it disappeared once she started feeling safe again but this wasn't a normal instance. This time she did it voluntarily without needing to be in danger, at least at first. She seemed to be keeping it voluntarily as well.

"Um Kipo.... what was that today? With the tail and fur? How long have you been able to do that?" Hugo asked. Kipo only half payed attention to him as she was playing with her Pierre toy "Week ago" she said. She could form short sentences now but her vocabulary was still much too small for anything too complex or long.

"And uh... why didn't you tell me?" Hugo asked and Kipo mearly shrugged, like the thought of telling him hadn't occured to her.

Hugo sighed, she really was a hand full. Well two handfuls would be more accurate, one hand for when she was human and the other for these new developments in her powers. 

Kipo soon managed to recede the fur and tail with a little difficulty. Hugo put Kipo in her new crib like bed for the night. Because of Kipo getting older and bigger her old crib became too small so Molly had built a small bed for her birthday with railings on the sides similar to the crib, these railings could be removed though.

Hugo fell asleep exhausted from the days events and was not prepared for what awaited him in the morning.

When Hugo woke up he first noticed the sounds of something moving around downstairs. At first he thought it might have been Molly or Yumyan but then he turned over and saw that Kipo's bed was missing Kipo. The removable railing on one side had been removed and thrown haphazardly onto the ground.

Hugo immediately shot up at that and went downstairs to see what Kipo was up to so early in the morning. For a second he froze at the sight he saw. The first floor was a mess and instead of Kipo being the one making the noise it was a baby jaguar. Though baby was a bit of a stretch. It was probably the size of what normal jaguars used to be like as adults. It was pink with black spots and had it's head in one of the cupboards in the kitchen.

Unfortunately a squeaky floor board gave Hugo away and the jaguar shot it's head out of the cupboard at lightning speed to look at who had managed to sneak up on it.

Hugo and the jaguar had a starting contest for a solid minute before realisation finally slapped Hugo in the face. This jaguar WAS Kipo. His little baby sister. Apparently the shock of the realisation was evident on his face as Kipo chose this moment to break the staring contest. She jumped down from the counter she had been using at a platform to look into the cupboard and started stalking towards Hugo, a low growl emanating from her throat.

This was NOT the Kipo Hugo knew. This was pure instincts having manifested itself in her. Hugo still had no idea how this happened. He backed up.

"K-kipo, it's me. Hugo, your older brother?" Hugo tried but she continued to stalk forward, like a predator getting ready to pounce.

Then she stepped on something and stopped mid step to look down at it. It had been one of the things she probably knocked over while in her jaguar state. Hugo recognised the framed picture of Kipo, Hugo, Yumyan, and Molly from her first birthday, there laying at her feet.

Kipo just stared at it for what felt like an eternity but must have only been a few seconds. Then finally she took a step backwards, and then stumbled backwards and quickly turned back to normal as she fell on her rear and started crying loudly.

Hugo immediately ran to her and enveloped her in a hug as she cried.

"I- I'm sorry!" Kipo managed to get out but Hugo just continued rubbing circles into her back as she cried.

After a while her cries settled down into small hiccups and Higo separated from her slightly to look her in the face.

"Kipo, what was that?" He asked and she just looked down at her hands sadly.

"I wanted practice.... so you be proud of me... then I couldn't.... couldn't stop it" Kipo said with a few more tears escaping her eyes.

Hugo once again enveloped her into a hug "Oh Kipo, I'm already proud of you. You don't have to prove anything. Please just never do that again, you scared me so much I thought I lost you" Hugo said as she started crying again but more silently this time.

"I- I promise" Kipo said even as it was muffled by Hugo's shirt and her tears.

~~~

"Ah come on Kipo pleeeeeeeeease?" Jacks asked again but the toddler stayed firm in her decision.

"No!" She said with crossed arms "I'm not doing it, not now not ever!" Kipo insisted.

"But Cinders said you were really excited about your powers yesterday!" Jacks, who was Cinders older brother, complained. He had wanted to see the partial transformation himself after Cinders talk his ear off about it. Or at least as much as his 2 year old sister could talk.

"Well that yesterday! No today!" Kipo insisted. For a 2 year old she was stubborn.

Hugo watched the interaction sadly. At the time when Kipo promised she wouldn't do it again he had been relieved but now she was completely refusing her powers all together.

The talk he had with Yumyan a few days prior came back to his mind. Kipo couldn't just repress her jaguar side forever, it was a part of her and that was sure to end in disaster.

In the mildly wise words of Yumyan 'every cat scratches things up when they first discover their claws'. He was right, Kipo was no different but it was much more foreign and dangerous to her than any normal Timbercat. Well at least they lived in the ideal community for her to learn about these things. Hugo made a mental note to talk to her about it later but first he needed to figure out what had snapped her out of it.

He thought back to when it happened. Kipo had only stopped when she saw-

'Of course!' Hugo thought 'the picture!' It must have been that. It was something that reminded Kipo of her family, of her humanity. Like an anchor grounding her back to being herself.

"Well you look like you just had a break through" Molly commented as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah... and hopefully it will help Kipo as much as I think it will" Hugo said and Molly nodded. He had told her what had happened that morning and she was just as worried as he was.

~~~

There had been sightings of a human wandering around mod frog territory and Harris, Kwat, and Jamack who were all still rookies with nothing really to their names in their community were sent to investigate.

Instead of finding the trespassing human the frogs found a shredder plant and a trail of blood leading away from it.

"This looks messy" Harris said and Jamack scoffed.

"Of course it looks messy. This human somehow managed to escape a shredder plant, nobody is walking away from those things without any injuries if they even walk away at all that is" Jamack said as he carefully avoided the plants sticky vines.

The shredder plant was almost as infamous as death ivy with how lethal it was. It looked like a large beautiful orange flower bud but if you got stuck on one of it's vines you were a goner. Being a carnivorous plant it gets it's name from how it basically sheds it's victims apart with it's deadly digestive acids. Once a creature gets stuck on the vines it gets pulled towards the bud and the bud opens up. The shredder will usually spit some acid out first to make the creature stop struggling before putting them in the bud full of acid to digest. Awful way to go really.

From the looks of it the human got stuck on one of the vines but managed to escape somehow, though it was probably while the bud was initially spitting the acid considering the blood trail.

"Should we follow it to the human?" Kwat asked but Jamack shook his head.

"Nah, anything burned by that things acid is as good as dead. Well probably just find a body if we follow it. Come on, let's report back to the boss" Jamack said as he turned around and headed back to the car.

Little did they know that the human who got burned had no intention on dying, at least not until he found someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at this! 2 chapter only a few hours apart!


	6. Little kitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kipo is growing up too fast for Hugo's liking

"You can run but you can't hide!" Jacks called. The young ginger was the seeker in a game of hide and seek. It didn't take him long to find his little sister Cinders. The 4 year old brown tabby was terrible at hiding.

"Aaaw! No fair! You're too good at seeking!" She complained as she left her hiding place behind a stack of freshly cut wood.

"No, you're just really bad at hiding!" Jacks said smugly and then Farris who had been caught first piped up "You still have to find Rayla and Kipo! Don't get side tracked Jacks!" the 5 year old black Timbercat called. Despite being the second oldest in their friend group he was always treated like one of the youngest.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it Farris. You're just salty you got caught first" Jacks mumbled. It took him only a few more minutes to find Rayla. The 4 year old grey tabby just shrugged before climbing out of the ditch she used to hide in.

"Okay, now all that's left is Kipo" Jacks said as he ran around searching.

"You'll never find her! Kipo is the best at hide and seek!" Cinders called from where she sat next to Rayla. Rayla silently nodded in agreement.

Unbeknownst to all 4 Timbercat kits there was a shadow lurking in a low hanging tree branch above Jacks. By the time Jacks noticed the ruffling of the leaves above him it was too late.

"Roar!" Kipo yelled as she jumped from the tree branch and landed on top of Jacks.

"I win!" She announced proudly but unfortunately for her she was easily pushed off by Jacks considering their age difference

"That's not how you play Kipo!" Jacks complained as he brushed off the dirt from his green plaid shirt.

"You're just saying that cause you lost! Anyway normal hide and seek is sooooo boring" Kipo said as she sat down and picked at the grass.

"She's got a point there" Farris said, Rayla and Cinders nodded along.

Hugo watched all of this with a smile on his face. 4 years. Hugo still couldn't believe how long it had been. He himself would be an adult in a few years. 4 years since they were accepted into this community. Kipo had grown up so much. She was making friends and was thinking outside the box alot. It wouldn't be long until she started school.

He sighed "Kipo! Lunch!" He called, cutting off the debate on whether hide and seek was boring or not. Kipo immediately scrambled up the stairs and into their home. Over the past 4 years Hugo and Kipo had truly made it their own. The once empty shelves were now filled with books, drawings and toys.

On the wall hung several pictures, each from one of Kipo's birthdays since Molly decided it would be a good idea to take one each year. And of course there were a few from a few of her milestones or playing with her friends.

Kipo managed to sit on the chair at the dining table without Hugo's help and she puffed out her chest proudly "See? Now you don't have to help me with things anymore! I'm all grown up!" Kipo exclaimed. Hugo just playfully ruffled her pink hair which he noticed was slightly softer average human hair "You'll always be my baby sister Kipo. Being able to climb onto a chair wont change that" Hugo said with a chuckled before going to finish getting lunch ready. Just a plain salad today but Kipo wasn't one to complain. Actually when it came to food she never complained, she just ate it.

"Hey big bro" Kipo said and Hugo looked at her to signal he was listening as he set the salad down on the table.

"When will I get to leave the forest?" Kipo asked and Hugo almosy did a double take. It came out of the blue.

"What do you mean? Why would you want to leave?" Hugo asked and Kipo shrugged.

"I heard stories about all the adventures Yums and Molly had against trespassers but the trespassers have to come from somewhere. Somewhere outside the forest. I want to go on an adventure out there to!" Kipo said excitedly.

Hugo sighed "Kipo, the world outside of the forest is a dangerous place, even just outside the village is dangerous" Hugo said but Kipo didn't seem to understand.

"But you go out all the time" Kipo said. She must have been referring to the errands Hugo had to commonly go on.

"Yes but it's dangerous even for me. And I'm an adul-" Hugo was saying but was cut off by Kipo.

"Molly calls you a kitten though! So you're not an adult!" She pointed out and Hugo wanted to face palm. If course she had noticed that, she notices everything.

"Well you're still younger than me, too young to go out there anyway" Hugo said in a tone that left no room for arguement.

Kipo looked down at her food in defeat "Alright.... but when I'm older... maybe?' She asked and Hugo sighed. She had obviously been thinking about the topic for a while.

"Maybe" Hugo muttered and Kipo visibly perked up at that. They then continued with eating their lunch in peace.

~~~

Kipo's fifth birthday had just passed a few weeks ago and now Molly turned up at Hugo's home out of the blue. That wasn't unusual, Molly and Yumyan always did this but Molly had a certain foreboding aura around her and Hugo felt like he should listen up to whatever she was about to say.

Kipo had gone out for a sleepover at Cinders house so it was only Hugo home.

"Kitten, Kipo recently turned 5" Molly started carefully and Hugo nodded. His anxiety churned in his stomach. What did Kipo turning 5 mean?

"Well the Timbercat schooling is going to start in a few days and Timbercat kits usually start school at the age of 5. Now for Timbercats schooling is optional, not mandatory, but I would think that you would enrol little Kipo right?" Molly explained and Hugo let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Molly you nearly gave me a heart attack. Yes I was planning on giving Kipo schooling, though I wasn't aware you had one here. I was originally going to tutor her myself" Hugo said to her and the foreboding aura disappeared.

"Great! If Kipo's enrolled in school then that means you can have more time devoted to that piano thing you have. That reminds me! I should build you one, or at least bring one from an old world music store" Molly said and Hugo was a little taken aback.

Molly had made a point to give Hugo a 'day off' at least once a month. On these days he either went to that old library to read or he practiced the piano. He hadn't told any of the Timbercats about it yet though which means-

"Kipo told you didn't she?" Hugo said, already knowing the answer.

"Yep!" Molly exclaimed happily and Hugo remembers not long after his talk with Kipo about leaving the village he told her what he usually did when he left.

"Welp! I better start getting to work on that piano! And you better start preparing to tell Kipo about school, I heard Cinders and Rayla are going too so Kipo would be ecstatic to spend more time with her friends" Molly said as she stood up from the chair, stretched, and then left.

~~~

"Oh the sleepover was great! Kipo and Cinders are outside playing tag right now" Cinders' mother informed Hugo.

"Alright. I'll let them play a little longer before we head home" Hugo said to her. He went outside and watched them play and all seemed well in the world. That is until Kipo tripped on a very obvious uprooted root.

"Kipo are you okay?" Hugo asked as he quickly came up to her and Cinders who was helping her up. Kipo had some tears threatening to fall but all she got from the fall was a scrape on her knee.

"I'm fine. I just didn't see the root" Kipo said as she whipped away the tears and that's when Hugo noticed just how long her hair was. It reach half way down her back and her bangs were to a point where they were long enough to get into her eyes but not long enough to put behind her ears.

"Come on. Let's go home and get you all patched up" Hugo said and Kipo nodded.

After putting water and a bandaid on the scrape Hugo gave Kipo a hair cut. Cutting it to shoulder length and shortening her bangs to the point where they were barely existent past the hair line.

"There, now you should be able to see things fine" Hugo said as Kipo looked in a mirror and admired at her new hair cut.

"Cool! But next time can I grow it out so I can braid it like Molly?" Kipo asked and Hugo nodded in agreement. He remembered Song had a wonderful long braid and he knew Kipo would look good with one too.

"Also Kipo, there is something I want to talk about" Hugo said as he sat down on the couch and Kipo sat next to him.

"What?" She asked as she looked up at him with her big magenta eyes.

"It has come to my attention that in a few days a sort of schooling will begin for the Timbercat kits. Your friends are going and Molly insisted you go to, though I was going to tutor you myself I think it is a great idea" Hugo explained and Kipo just blinked once before asking a question he should have anticipated "What's schooling?" Kipo asked.

"Oh! Um. Well school is a place you go to learn new things. Like how to write and read for example but you also learn alot of other stuff! Though I don't know what exactly they will teach you at a Timbercat school" Hugo tried to explain and Kipo finally seemed to understand.

"So I'll get to be smart like you!? And use lots of smart words and read lots of books? Yes! I want to go! I wonder what they'll teach us? Oh, I think Jacks mentioned he goes to school to! But he is older so maybe he will learn different things...." Kipo exclaimed. Her train of thought never seemed to end and Hugo was just happy she had the same thirst for knowledge as her parents.

~~~

It was only a few days later that school started. The only thing required from the kits was a pencil and paper. Hugo got Kipo a notebook since he knew she would probably try and absorb every little piece of information.

He dropped her off at the entrance to one of the larger tree structures that look suspiciously like a cat house Hugo had seen in an old world building once, pet store he thinks it was called.

When he got home he was greeted with his living room's empty corner no longer being empty but having a grand piano there. Molly stood next to it proudly and Hugo just walked up in disbelief. He pressed one of the wooden keys and sure enough it played perfectly tuned.

"H-how did you even do this with wood?" Hugo asked and Molly just smirked "A carpenter never reveals her secrets" She said before promptly leaving.

Hugo spent the next few hours refamiliarising himself with the piano and it's keys since he had only gotten the chance to play on his 'days off' and he was a bit rusty.

Later he picked Kipo up and she happily went on and on about her first day of Timbercat school. As suspected they did things a little differently than how Hugo had been told human schools worked and how he read about them but there were also far more similarities.

Kipo didn't seem to stop talking for a second and Hugo wondered if she even needed to breathe at all. Then she saw the piano and Hugo will not admit it but he felt proud at the excited twinkle in her eye.

"Are you gonna play here now?! Can I watch!?" She asked excited and Hugo just chuckled.

"Sure you can. Do you have any suggestions?" Hugo asked and Kipo sat down on the couch as she thought. The Timbercats were surprisingly musical Hugo had come to find. They had two kind of axes. One for chopping wood and the other used as a guitar. Hugo remembered Lio and how he was quite the skilled guitarist. Because of Kipo being around all these musical cats she knew quite a few songs and even sang along when she could remember the lyrics.

"Um... You decide!" Kipo said to the surprise of Hugo.

Hugo just shrugged as he sat down at the piano. He let his fingers hover over the keys for a moment before a certain song he hasn't remembered in a long time came to him.

For some reason he could only remember it now and it was clear as day. The song had originally been for the guitar so it took Hugo a moment of thinking before he found a way to play it on the piano.

"We may not have sunshine, or starlight, or weather"

Hugo started singing as he started playing on the piano. Lio and Song would sing this whenever he was upset which means it happened more often after Dr. Emilia had found him out.

"But we have eachother and that's even better"

He knew that Lio and Song would probably sing this to Kipo themselves if they could.

"You don't need the sun to keep you warm when you've got arms"

Singing the song again and having all the memories drenched up was bittersweet to Hugo but he kept going.

"Wishes come from you and not a random shooting star"

He didn't even need look back to know that Kipo was giving him her full attention.

"We may not have storm clouds but the sky is always blue"

Hugo made a small mental note to ask Molly to teach Kipo how to play the guitar when she was older.

"We've got something special here and what we have is you"

Hugo did dearly miss Lio and Song but the pain of not seeing them was always a little bit more bearable when he saw Kipo being a happy carefree child.

"What we have is you. What we have is you"

Hugo finished playing and just sat there in silence. After a few seconds Kipo came up and hugged him.

"Wha- why are you hugging me?" Hugo asked and Kipo just hugged him tighter "You're crying big bro" Kipo mumbled.

Only then did Hugo noticed the tears that had begun to fall. He really did have the best little sister ever. She didn't even know why he was crying but was already trying to comfort him.


	7. Fragments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kipo finds fragments of the past

"Molly is giving me my first guitar lesson today! I'm super excited!" Kipo exclaimed as she was bouncing in place.

"You have Molly teaching you? Lucky. Isn't she like one of the best guitarists in the village?" Farris said from where he sat cross legged near by.

"I'm sure Kipo will be good no matter who is teaching her" Cinders said confidently.

"Wait- you're learning guitar? I thought your older brother was teaching you piano?" Jacks asked from where he stood nearby.

"I'm learning both! Big bro says I'm super talented with music and could probably even learn a 3rd instrument if I wanted to!" Kipo said, her excitement building by the second.

"Are you?" Cinders asked with amazement in her eyes.

"Um... no. I think 2 is enough for now" Kipo said, calming down just the littlest bit. It had been a year since Kipo had first seen Hugo play the piano. She was now 6 and finally after a year of asking and asking, over and over again Hugo had started teaching her piano and he said that she would also be learning guitar.

Soon the white pelted cat herself showed up and carried Kipo away on her shoulder up to Kipo's home.

"Alright Kipo, playing the guitar can look complicated but once you have the basics down it's pretty easy" Molly said as she put Kipo down on the couch. Hugo was out doing errands so it was just the two of them.

Molly handed Kipo a small guitar which, to Kipo's disappointment, was a proper guitar and not an axe guitar like Molly had.

Molly showed her the different strings and how to change what they sounded like. She instructed Kipo to do a simple melody and after a few attempts Kipo managed to do it.

"Alright! That's good! You just need to work on memorizing that to the point where you barely need to think about it when you play!" Molly said and Kipo let out a breath as she rubbed her slightly sore finger tips. Learning guitar was almost as hard as learning piano!

Apparently she would have to focuse on piano more because Hugo said that it taught her more 'music theory' and it would make learning guitar easier if she knew piano first.

"We can take a break now if you want" Molly said but as soon as the word 'break' had left her mouth Kipo put her guitar down and ran towards the exit "I'm going to go play with my friends!" She called as she started going down the stairs.

"Don't run down the stairs or your brother will have my head!" Molly said to her and Kipo did slow down knowing how worried Hugo would be if she got hurt from running down the stairs.

"Soooo how was you first lesson?" Cinders asked as soon as she saw Kipo speeding towards their group.

"Great! Lots of fun! Complicated... but fun!" Kipo exclaimed. She had to physically stop herself from humming the melody that was now stuck in her head.

"Hey guys! Look what I found!" Jacks yelled from where he was a few trees away.

The group quickly made their way over to Jacks as he showed off..... a metal box?

"Uh, Jacks? What's this?" Farris asked as everyone looked at the small box in confusion. It was rusted and covered with dirt, it had obviously just been dug out if a small hole that was next to it.

"Okay so I was walking along when BAM! I tripped on this little metal thing poking out of the ground! It wasn't a root so I decided to dig it up and it was this weird old metal box!" Jacks explained.

"Oh! My mom told me about how sometimes they would find old world human things poking out of the ground. This must be one of those" Farris said as he snapped his fingers.

Kipo tilted her head a bit as she looked at the box. She had heard those words alot. 'Human' and 'old world'. She didn't know what they meant. They didn't teach them at school since everyone just seemed to know about it so why would they? It would be like teaching someone how to walk up stairs. But Kipo didn't know. She had always been too embarrassed to ask, she never found the right moment but this time seemed as good as any.

"Hey, um, guys?" She said and everyone turned their attention onto her.

"What does um.. 'human' and 'old world' mean?" She asked. There was a silence. Everyone just stared at her.

'Oh no, they are going to think I'm stupid now!' Kipo thought as she looked down at her feet feeling embarrassed.

"Uh... Kipo?" Came Cinders uncertain voice "you ARE a human" she said and all of Kipo's thought process's came to a halt.

"Wait what?" She asked now looking up at her obviously confused friends.

"Wait you didn't know you were a human?" Jacks asked.

"That doesn't answer my question! What IS a human? How can I know I'm something when I don't know what that something is!" Kipo said and this time Farris took the lead.

"Humans are sort of like another species of animal. Like how your brother is a mandril and we are cats. Humans are just another species, but they don't.... really count as mutes..." Farris tried explaining.

"The old world is the world like 200 years ago! When the forests were really tiny and cats and other mutes weren't mutes, just dumb animals like the megas but small, who didn't talk or think like us. Accept for the humans! They could always talk and be really smart! But something happened and their society collapsed or something? And now humans are really rare" Jacks explained the rest.

Kipo looked down at the ground absorbing all this new information. She knew that she probably wasn't the same kind of mute as the rest of the Timbercats but not being a mute at all? Being... a human?

"But! You're REALLY special! No human can do what you do! You know with the jaguar stuff! So like I think Hugo said you were part mute or something!" Cinders tried clearing up any misconception.

"So I'm a human... and a mute?" Kipo asked.

"Yeah! One of a kind! Even Molly said she hadn't ever seen a human like you!" Cinders exclaimed. Kipo felt... a little better.

She hadn't exactly felt bad before but now she knew more about herself that she didn't before and that was.... nice.

"Oh well now that's cleared up, let's open this box!" Jacks said excitedly.

It took trying a few different things. From just clawing at it too trying to find a latch too finally opening it by throwing it against a tree multiple times.

"Woah, what's all this stuff?" Jacks said as they all looked at the contents of the box that were now spilled all over the ground.

There was a book of some sort, a drawing, some weird other metal thing that was really thin and smooth, and finally a picture.

As her friend tried to figure out what the smooth rectangle did Kipo picked up and looked at the picture. It was a picture of what she could only assume was a human family. Two taller humans and one smaller one who looked around Kipo's, maybe a little older. In the background was a beautiful sunset over a really big river, like it didn't even look like a river!

"Let's go ask Molly if she knows what these are!" Farris said and everyone agreed.

They all scrambled to Molly who was at the base of Kipo's house tuning her guitar.

"Molly! Molly! We found some old world stuff!" Cinders said as she came up to her.

"Yeah and we don't know what some of it is" Farris explained and Rayla handed her the old box where they had all put the stuff back in. Well expect for Kipo who still held the old picture.

"Oh! You kids found a jackpot! These are what were called time capsules. Humans would put stuff in them and bury them for future generations to find, so these are sort of meant for you to teach you about the past" Molly explained.

"Let's see... book called 'Fighting cats' probably something they would read to their kits, a nice drawing of a bird, and this... I think it was called.... a phone? I'm not sure what they used it for though but I'm pretty sure it's busted" Molly said as she examined the contents of the box. Then she looked up and saw Kipo holding the picture.

"Kipo you got something else?" Molly asked.

"Yeah... um, I think it's a picture of a human family" Kipo said as she handed the picture to Molly.

"And it looks like they took it next to the sea" Molly said as she examined the picture.

"Sea?" All 4 said in unison and Rayla also looked like she was questioning it.

"It's something I read about. Apparently it was this big place of water. Only water for miles! It was deep and blue and very very salty. But Las Vistas is really far from it I think" Molly explained and everyone just looked like they really wanted to see this 'sea'.

It wasn't long after that the sun started setting and everyone headed to dinner at the dining hall. Even Hugo managed to come back in time. The whole time Kipo couldn't stop thinking about that picture. How happy the humans were, how they looked like a perfect little family.

As Hugo tucked her into bed Kipo decided to ask a question that was nagging at the back of her mind.

"Big bro?" Kipo said and Hugo gave a hum to let her know he was listening.

"Why don't we have any parents?" Kipo asked and Hugo froze. Kipo knew that the two taller humans were probably the small ones parents. She heard how her friends talked about their parents, that they did all the same things Hugo did for Kipo but Hugo was her sibling, like Cinders and Jacks were siblings. So they had to have parents, but she never met them so did they?

"We... we did have parents Kipo. You had your mom and your dad and they loved you very much. I'm sure they still do" Hugo said with a small smile on his face.

"But... where are they?" Kipo pressed on.

"They... are gone.... I don't know where and I don't know how. I hope that one day you will be able to meet them again" Hugo answered.

"So they are out there in the world somewhere?" Kipo asked.

"I... don't know. Maybe, I hope so" Hugo said quietly as he looked away from Kipo "It's late. I'll tell you about them another time alright?" Hugo said more than asked but Kipo still nodded as her eyes started dropping from sleepiness.

"Okay..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Rayla is mute!


	8. Look how far we've come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our main cast are living life to the fullest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back baby! Also after this chapter is when the fluff will start to tone down a bit in favour of plot

At 7 years old Kipo's curiosity and energy only grew. She would ask questions about practically everything, she would run around playing games for hours without getting tired, and she would do her own little 'investigations' about 'mysteries' she found around the village. One day it would be how many kits could hide in Yumyan's tail until he noticed, another day it would be which trees were the most unstable around the village.

Needless to say she was a handful, not only for Hugo but also for Molly and obviously Yumyan. At least that curiosity meant that Kipo was always willing to learn more. In one year Kipo had almost mastered the piano though she attributed that to Hugo being a good teacher, and Kipo's guitar lessons were coming along great as well. She was always paying full attention at school and would read any and all books Molly would give her or Hugo would bring back from his travels. She was also very good friends with Pierre.

It was just a normal day. School had just finished up and Kipo had speedily done her homework the moment she got home, ate lunch and then ran off to go play with her friends.

"Kipo is getting smarter and bigger by the day. I remember when you and her first came into our territory, she was only a little new born kit" Molly said as she came up next to Hugo.

"Yeah... I can't believe how independent she's become, I mean she used not even be able to walk!" Hugo said happily but then his happy mood dropped as he thought of how Lio and Song couldn't witness this themselves, how Kipo would probably never meet her parents.

"Hey, what's with that expression? Why you being all sad?" Molly asked, probably noticed his drop in mood.

"I just can't help but think about our parents. Kipo just reminds me so much of them and I've always held out hope that they are still out there somewhere looking for us but-.... it's been so long Molly, years and I've not found a single sign of them whenever I venture out of the forest... I'm afraid Kipo wont ever get to meet them... that they're-" Hugo was cut off by Molly before he could finish his thought.

"Hey, hey. Don't think like that. I'm sure that they are still out there looking for you. You can't give up just because it's been a while. You gotta be optimistic, like Kipo!" Molly reassured but Hugo just sighed in defeat.

"But I'm still worried that I'm not being the big brother she needs. She doesn't have any human adults to teach her about herself" Hugo argued but Molly wasn't having any of it.

"Look you've grown up alot too! You're almost an adult and let's be honest no one like Kipo exists in the entire world. There will never be anyone to teach her everything about her self but she has the next best thing. She had an amazing older brother and of course all the Timbercats!" Molly said and Hugo could only find honesty in her ice blue eyes.

"Thanks Molly... for cheering me up" Hugo said as he looked over at Kipo who was playing tag with her friends.

"Just telling you the truth" Molly replied before she left, saying something about needing to start carving Kipo a bigger guitar since she had almost outgrown her first one already.

~~~

"Okay Kipo, if you answer me these three questions correctly you'll get an extra portion of dessert. You ready?" Hugo asked and Kipo nodded with determination from where she sat on the couch.

"What makes someone an albino?" Hugo asked.

"They don't have TYR gene which means they don't get enough melanin!" Kipo answered confidently.

"Correct! Is the brain more active at night or day?"

"Night! These are too easy bro!"

"Okay then how about.... how many blood groups are there?"

"Um... 3?"

"Nope, it's 4! Remember AB. Looks like you'll be having more vegetables" Hugo said as he finished preparing lunch. A few months ago Kipo had suggested a quiz game. Basically Hugo quizzed her on random things she learned and if she got all the answers right she would get a reward, usually extra dessert, but if she got one wrong then she would have extra vegetables. That day Kipo had chosen the topic biology.

"Oh! I'll win next time!" Kipo said confidently as she got up and made her way to the dining table where Hugo had just layed lunch out.

"How about this, I'll get you a big science book next time I go out. Then you'll know everything and get your extra dessert" Hugo suggested and Kipo's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Yes! That'll be so fun to read!" Kipo said as she started eating her food with the same viciousness she always did.

"Kipo I think you're the only child I know that thinks reading is fun" Hugo commented.

"But it is! They don't know what they're missing out on!" Kipo exclaimed.

~~~

"Alright Kipo, just like you practiced" Hugo encouraged and Kipo took a deep breath before holding her arms out. Suddenly pink jaguar fur grew on her arms but stooped at her wrists.

"Kipo don't worry, you're not going to hurt anyone. I have the picture incase it happens again" Hugo encouraged. For the last few months Hugo had been trying to help Kipo control her jaguar side but it had been hard. First of all Kipo was absolutely terrified of using her powers ever since the incident where she went full jaguar. Hugo had to do alot of persuading to get her to actually try. Second of all they weren't sure how to even get her to use it since she hadn't done it in so long but after some trial and error they found her needing the jaguar abilities for a specific task, like keeping her safe from danger, needing to run faster, see in the dark, was her trigger and her remembering she was fine and didn't needed that extra help anymore made it go away.

Kipo was still absolutely terrified of going too far and losing herself but Hugo knew that she just needed to be reminded of who she was and the way that happened last time was with the picture from her first birthday.

"Okay I'll try..." Kipo said, still sounding unsure. She closed her eyes to focus and her arms fully became jaguar paws, a tail appeared from her lower back and her ears were jaguar ears. When Kipo opened her eyes they were her cat like pink eyes with their usual slit pupils.

"Big bro I did it!" Kipo said excitedly.

"You think you can turn back?" Hugo asked and Kipo nodded with determination.

She closed her eyes again and pulled her arms back, they had found that the gesture helped, and all her feline traits were replaced with her normal human ones as she opened her eyes again.

"Great job Kipo!" Hugo praised.

"Yeah! I was really scared at first but then you encouraged me and I did it and now I'll be able to practice more!" Kipo said as she came up and hugged Hugo tightly.

"Let's get home and I'll make you your favourite snack as a treat" Hugo suggested and Kipo instantly released the hug to run towards their home at the mention of food.

~~~

"Kipo! Kipo! Look!" Cinders yelled as she raced towards Kipo while holding something in her paw.

"What is it?" Kipo asked, as curious as ever.

Cinders slowly opened her paw to reveal a baby centipede. Most insects, and any creature really, were huge but there was always the occasional small baby that was near the size the old world books described them to be and this was one of those rare occurrences.

"Wow! It's so tiny!" Kipo said as she looked at it closely.

"I know right! I'm gonna name her Kit, because she is so small!" Cinders said but Kipo got a better idea.

"Oh! Big bro brought back a candy bar once that had the word kit in it. It was called a KitKat! It was brown like centipedes are, she should be called KitKat!" Kipo suggested and Cinders eyes were sparkling.

"You're so smart Kipo! KitKat it is then!" Cinders announced proudly as she held up the small insect.

"She is just a baby right now so she is still gonna grow up bigger and stronger" Kipo said while inspecting the centipede.

"Hey! We could train her and keep her as a pet like how Yumyan has Pierre!" Cinders said and now it was Kipo's turn to be excited.

"Yes! Let's go find a good place to make her home!" Kipo said and the two ran off looking at different little holes and ditches where they could make a house for KitKat.

~~~

"Uh- Kipo" Hugo said, not sure of how to really follow up. A few months ago Cinders had found a rarely small baby centipede and now in only the span of a few months it was as big as an old world cat. Kipo was currently feeding her some maple syrup. Cinders was sick so Kipo had been tasked with taking care of KitKat.

"Yeah big bro?" Kipo asked, looking at him innocently.

"You know what never mind" Hugo answered, he couldn't bare to tell Kipo how KitKat was become a little large maintenance. She looked so happy to have a pet and Hugo was happy as long as she was happy.

~~~

"Yums pleeeeeeeeeeease!" Kipo begged but Yumyan stayed firm in his decision.

"No Kipo, you're too young and Hugo said it could be dangerous if you fell off" Yumyan said while not meeting her gaze. Kipo had been really wanting to ride Pierre and finally gathered the courage to ask Yumyan but if Kipo was hurt Yumyan knew there was no force on earth that would save him from Hugo's wrath.

"Yums I promise I'll be really careful! And treat him well! And behave great just please let me ride him!" Kipo begged and she brought out the ultimate weapon, the kitten cat eyes (puppy dog but it's a cat society soooo kitten cat).

Yumyan made the mistake of looking down and seeing those pleading eyes.

"Ah! Fine!" Yumyan submitted. He helped Kipo onto Pierre and then just watched from there. Kipo was surprisingly competent in riding Pierre, that or Pierre realised his fate if he let Kipo get hurt and was extra careful. 

Either way Kipo was satisfied and happy at the end of the day and Pierre got an extra portion of maple syrup.

~~~

"Professor! Sir! I have a question" Marcus said as he approached his teacher.

"Go ahead" His teacher said.

"How do you know so much about the surface?!" Marcus asked.

"Well I'll tell you a little secret, I've actually been to the surface" His teacher answered.

"Really? What's it like up there!?" Marcus asked, his curiosity was eating him alive.

"Hmm. It's very big and easy to get lost. It's also very dangerous, trust me you're safer here than up there" His teacher said seriously and Marcus nodded before turning around and heading home from school.

"Goodbye Professor Oak!" Marcus said with a wave as he turned the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marcus the human will never appear again


	9. Beyond the forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kipo and friends go beyond the forest, Hugo and the adults lose their minds trying to find them

Hugo was panicking, Yumyan was panicking, Molly was panicking, multiple other parents were panicking. Why? Because Kipo and her group of friends had been playing outside as usual but now no one could find them. They had disappeared and the worst part was no one was even sure when they had disappeared. Hugo and the rest of the parents had only noticed their children weren't playing in the usual town centre clearing when they had tried to call them inside for lunch.

"We need to find them!" Cinders and Jacks' mother yelled. 

"The whole village has already been checked, no sign of any of them" Molly said, she was the only one not having a complete frantic melt down but she was obviously still freaking out.

"So they might be in the outer territory? Let's send out a search party" Farris' father said and Molly nodded "Already done"

Hugo was just quietly sitting in the corner internally screaming. The moment it was suggested that they had left the village Hugo's mind immediately went to one person. Dr. Emilia. Had she found them? Had she lured them out of the village? Was Kipo already being taken to a far away secret lab to be experimented on like Hugo had been? The very thought sent chills down Hugo's spine. Kipo didn't deserve that! Kipo did nothing wrong yet she would be treated as nothing more than a lab rat! She had only turned 8 a few weeks ago. She was too young-

"Hugo!" Molly yelled, snapping Hugo out of his spiralling train of thought.

"M-Molly we need to find Kipo and the rest of the kits, now!" Hugo said while standing up.

"We're working on it. You can't let your thoughts spiral out of control, don't assume the worst" Molly tried calming Hugo down but Hugo just couldn't help but worry over where his little sister had gone.

~~~

The forest edge. It was right there. The group of kits stood at the edge of Timbercat territory. Beyond that point non of them had ever gone.

"Come on who is going to take the first step? Farris you do it!" Jacks, the oldest of the group at 10 years old, said.

"Me!? It was your idea to come out here! Let's just go back" Farris, the second oldest at 8 years old, suggested.

"Yeah Jacks! Are you too much of a scaredy cat to do it?" Cinders, Jacks' younger sister, challenged.

Rayla knocked on the wood of the tree right next to them to get all their attention, once everyone stopped bickering for a second Rayla simply pointed forward. Everyone looked to where she was pointing to see Kipo already well beyond the first step and casually walking towards the old world city while humming a little tune.

"Hey, Kipo! Wait up!" Cinders said as she quickly went to follow her friend.

"Don't leave me behind!" Farris said as he frantically followed after the two. Jacks needed a literal push from Rayla to start moving toward into the unfamiliar territory.

"Woah... it's so different outside the forest..." Kipo said as she stood in the middle of the old world street. The builds around were over run with plants and very decrepit but Kipo thought it looked beautiful in it's own strange way.

"Can't believe humans built all this...." Cinders muttered as she came up next to Kipo.

"I know! Imagine how amazing it must have looked 200 years ago!" Kipo exclaimed as she ran down the street.

What followed was an hour of Jacks and Farris bickering, Kipo and Cinders being amazed by everything around them, and Rayla subtly making sure no one died or got separated.

Finally the group of kits were tuckered out and went into an old world store which seemed to have food.

"Cool! This place is filled with junk food!" Jacks said as he picked up as many bags of chips and candy he could hold. The small group sat behind the counter and ate the food they had gathered while talking about everything they had seen.

Then there was the sound of.... something. Something loud and mechanical. The sound stopped and voices started. The whole group went silent, listening to voices and also trying to not get noticed.

"Snack break! This is the best place for snacks" came a female voice.

"Shouldn't we be checking the Timbercat boarder?" Came another female voice, this one a little rougher.

"After a snack break! Come on, there hasn't been any trespassers from those cats in months!" The voice came inside the store and the group was very thankful they were hidden behind the counter.

"Well looks like there aren't any snacks here anymore" the rougher voice said mockingly.

"What!? But there were yesterday!" The first voice exclaimed and with their shock came a smell. A terrible terrible smell.

"Oh god-" Jacks started coughing and Farris soon joined him after making the mistake of also breathing. Rayla held her breath and so did Kipo, Kipo also put her hand over Cinders' face to stop her breathing in the terrible stench.

"Hey who's there!?" The rougher of the two voices said and suddenly a large bipedal skunk in colourful biker clothes came around the counter. A Scooterskunk!

"Well it looks like we do have some Timbercat trespassers after all" She said with a worrying smirk.

The 5 kits were tied up and taken to the Scooterskunk camp, a large old world scooter dump.

"Oi boss! We found these runts trespassing on our terf!" One of their captors said and a Scooterskunk with a much more menacing biker appearance came down from a large mound of scrap metal.

"Some Timbercat kits and- Oh? What's this? A human?" The leader of the Scooterskunks said as she eyed Kipo with curiosity.

"Yeah but she smells like a Timbercat and kinda.... like a monkey" One of their captors said.

"Mandril" Kipo corrected before turning her attention to the leader of the Scooterskunks "I'm so sorry miss?" "Rachel" "Miss Rachel but this is a big misunderstanding" Kipo said but Rachel just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really human? Because the way I see it you and these Timbercat kits trespassed into our territory. Is that not what happened?" She challenged.

"Uh- yes but we didn't know it was your territory. If we did we wouldn't have trespassed! Also my name is Kipo by the way" Kipo argued.

"What should we do with em boss?" A Scooterskunk asked.

"We could put em in the beetle pit, see how long they last!" Another suggested.

"What if we let em loose in wolf territory, be fun to watch them try and run for the their lives eh?" Another said.

"Stop! We'll decide later. Put them in the cell" Rachel said and the two Scooterskunks who had brought them there nodded and dragged them off to the side and threw them into a prison like cell made of scrap metal.

"Jeez does it stink around here or what?" Jacks said as he stretched, since the Skunks had untied them when they threw them into the cell.

"Well it IS a place where skunks live" Farris replied as he rubbed his sore wrists.

"Come on guys we have to find a way out of here!" Cinders said and Rayla nodded.

"Kipo has her powers, why doesn't she just beat them all up?" Jacks suggested but Rayla simply hit him over the head for the suggestion.

Kipo wasn't really paying attention to what her friends were arguing about. Instead something in the scrap pile at the back of the cell got her attention. It wasn't surprising that this was more than just a scooter dump and that old world humans may have dumped other things but what did surprise Kipo was what she found. It was an old wooden piano. Not a grand piano like at her home but an upright piano, it made up a chunk of the wall of the cell.

Kipo dragged over an old metal box and used it as a chair as she sat on it. The piano was surprisingly still working and well tuned.

"Uhh, Kipo what are you doing?" Jacks asked when he noticed her sat infront of the old world piano.

Kipo went over the keys one by one to make sure they were all working and amazingly they were. The Scooterskunks that were guarding their cell heard the piano music and gave their attention to Kipo.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" One of them asked.

"Playing the piano!" Kipo said with a bright smile as she looked over her shoulder at them.

"I know a few songs, you wanna hear?" Kipo asked. The two Scooterskunks exchanged a glance before both shrugging and sitting down cross legged.

"Sure" "Why not"

Kipo took in a big breath, slightly nervous. She had only ever played infront of Molly and her brother. Thankfully her amazing older brother taught her a few ways to get over performance anxiety.

She started playing an old world song that Molly had shown her on the guitar. Apparently it was originally for piano but since most Timbercats don't play piano Molly had managed to convert it to guitar but Kipo was going to play the piano version since she had the resources.

It was called "The entertainer" if Kipo remembered correctly and it was played in this thing called 'ragtime'. Basically it was really upbeat and happy and catchy. It was one of Kipo's favourites and she had been practicing it on the piano for a little while.

As Kipo played it other Scooterskunks nearby heard the music and came closer. By the time Kipo was half way through the song she had gathered a bit of a crowd.

Finally it ended and Kipo received a round of applause.

"Wow. I didn't know that's what those things were for, did you?" "Nah, I thought they were just weird loud walls" some Scooterskunks said between themselves. Kipo was getting alot of praise and she was a little embarrassed.

"Well I'll be a squirrels aunt" Rachel said as she approached the cell.

"I'm quite impressed and that's a feet. Tell me, what else can you do with these wooden walls?" Rachel asked and Kipo giggled a little at the description.

"It's called a piano, and you can do alot with it! Well mostly you can just play music but music has alot of variety! Actually, I would've taken you Scooterskunks to be more into electric guitars than some old timey piano music" Kipo explained.

"Kipo... care to tell us more about this 'music' stuff?" Rachel said as she opened the cell.

~~~

"Uh... we found their scent trail" The Timbercat leading the search said as they came back.

"Really?! Where are they? We should go get them right now!" Hugo said as he stood up faster than he ever thought possible.

"Well their trail was quite stale and.... it lead out of our territory.... right into Scooterskunk territory" the Timbercat finished and Hugo could've sworn that for a second his heart stopped. Then it started again with a fresh dose of adrenaline and panic.

"We need to go get them, now!" Cinders and Jacks' mother exclaimed exactly what everyone was thinking. Almost immediately the group of cats that had found the trail led Hugo and the rest of the parents, even Molly and Yumyan were coming, to the scent trail which did indeed lead to Scooterskunk territory.

Hugo didn't know much about territorial disputes among mute tribes but he knew enough to know that the Scooterskunks and the Timbercats did NOT get along.

The group all marched into the territory, ready to get their kits back.

'Kipo please be okay, please use those powers of yours to get out of whatever situation you've found yourself in' Hugo thought as they walked through the ruins of the old world city.

"Strange, there don't seem to be any patrols going around...." Molly mumbled and Hugo got a sinking feeling.

"Their scent leads towards the Scooterskunk camp" one of the other Timbercats informed everyone. Immediately everyone there started a mad dash to the direction that cat had pointed in.

It didn't take long to find the camp, an old world scooter dump, but everyone was surprised to hear.... music?

Yumyan unsurprisingly ran in first with his axe out and everyone followed but the sight they saw was not what they had expected.

Kipo and her friends were all playing music with the Scooterskunks on impromptu instruments made from the scrap parts around the junkyard.

They all stopped and looked up at the group of Timbercats plus one mandril. There was a moment of awkward silence and staring but it was quickly broken by Kipo.

"Hi everyone! Sorry we kind of wandered off, hope we didn't worry you or anything. Molly I was trying to teach some of these Scooterskunks the basics of guitar but I'm having some trouble explaining, give me a paw maybe?" Kipo said casually. Like she hadn't been in any danger by these mutes at all.

One of the Scooterskunks stood up and came towards them "Yumyan Hammerpaw" she said with narrowed eyes, though the threatening gesture was diminished a little as she was holding what appeared to be a tamberine.

"Rachel" Yumyan hissed out, his axe ready for the attack.

Rachel made a gesture and the group of Timbercat kids came up next to her "I believe these are yours" she said with a small sneer but no real malice.

"Don't let them wander off like that again. You're lucky we found them and not some mod frogs or wolves" Rachel said then she turned her attention to Kipo and her friends "You and your friends can come back any time you want dear" She said in a much nicer voice than when she talked to Yumyan. Kipo nodded with a bright smile and the 5 of them went over to the group of Timbercats.

"Let's go home, I'm starving!" Cinders said as she stretched and Rayla gave a nod in agreement.

The still stunned group just turned around and headed back towards Timbercat territory. 

When they made it back to camp everyone snapped out of the trance and all the parents fussed over their kits. Most of them being grounded, this included Kipo.

"What.... what even happened?" Molly asked and Jacks who was the closest to her just shrugged.

"I was there and I'm not even sure" Jacks replied before getting dragged away by his mother.

~~~

"Kipo do you know how worried I was! You can't wonder off like that again! I can't believe this! I almost had a heart attack!" Hugo rambled his rant/lecture as Kipo sat on the couch looking down embarrassed and sad.

"I'm sorry.... Jacks said it would be okay if we came back before dark...." Kipo replied.

"Yes! But that is for adults! Look.... I understand your curiosity but promise me you wont ever go beyond the Timbercat territory without telling me first" Hugo asked.

"I promise" Kipo sighed. She didn't mean to make her brother worry so much.

"Alright.... like I said earlier you're grounded for 2 weeks, which means no quiz games, no playing with your friends, and no new books" Hugo said while crossing his arms. Kipo nodded in understanding even if she didn't like it.

"You..... you really really make me worry you know..." Hugo said in a more subdued and sad voice than before. Kipo finally looked up at her brother's face to see something sad and dark haunting his expression.

"There are things out there that can hurt you and I... I was afraid those things would find you...." Hugo said vaguely.

"What.... what kind of things?" Kipo dared to ask. If she knew what they were then maybe she could avoid them in the future.

"Bad things.... things that hurt me in ways I don't ever want them to hurt you" Hugo supplied. Kipo had the feeling he was down playing whatever he was talking about for her sake. That it was something heavy about her brothers past. A past she knew nothing about except that it didnt take place in the warmth and safety of their Timbercat home but she didnt question it. She didn't want to make her brother uncomfortable by asking too many questions about things he may not want to talk about.

"Its late.... let's get to bed" Hugo said after a short silence.

"Okay big bro" Kipo said as she jumped off of the couch and went upstairs to change into her pyjamas.

~~~

They were running out. This was terrible.

Years ago their only possible way to verse the mutigen escaped. Not only that but he escaped with an experiment that shouldn't exist and that she still needed to erase from existence.

They had been using the monkey for the last few years as protection from the dangerous mutes above but she had managed to destroy a large portion of their supply of the mandril's sweat before she had transformed. Now they were running out and it would only be a matter of time before they didn't have enough to control her anymore.

They needed to find that mandril and fast.


	10. Braided memories and Impossible choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugo braids Kipo's hair
> 
> Kipo has a nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will not believe how long I've been waiting to write this chapter
> 
> I've just been sitting on this for 9 chapters

"Big bro can you braid my hair?" The 9 year old part mute human asked.

"Oh? What brought this on? I thought you liked your hair in a ponytail?" Hugo asked as he looked up from his book.

"Yeah.... but Molly has these cool braids and I wanna learn how to braid hair as well and now I want braided hair. Please pretty please?" Kipo asked excitedly while jumping in place.

"Alright if you really want it" Hugo said as he set his book down. Kipo practically squealed in excitement and she sat down infront of her older brother.

A few moments later Kipo was admiring her braided hair. Her hair wasn't very long, only going just past her shoulders, but it was long enough and Kipo loved the look.

"Heh, you know you look alot like Song with that braid" Hugo said, remembering how Song always had her long hair in an expertly crafted braid.

Kipo paused in her excitement and stared at Hugo for a moment.

"Who is.... Song?" Kipo asked and Hugo wanted to facepalm so hard. Kipo had never really asked about their parents so Hugo never brought it up. He always felt a pit in his stomach whenever he remembered them, all the old memories that used to be his safe haven to remember had turned bittersweet the more time passed.

"Song.... was your mother Kipo" Hugo said while looking anywhere but Kipo. She looked so much like Song it was hard that those memories had to resurface while he was talking to her.

"Oh" Kipo looked down, her excitement had evaporated.

"Um... do you want to know about your parents?" Hugo asked. He knew that Kipo was very kind and considerate. He knew she could tell that the topic of their parents was a hard thing for Hugo and he knew that was the reason she never brought them up even if she had questions. This conversation was going to happen eventually so it was better then than later.

"Y-yes! If that's alright with you...." Kipo said while looking anywhere but Hugo.

"Alright, come sit here on the couch cause I have alot of stories" Hugo said while no being able to hide the excitement he felt for Kipo to finally hear about her parents.

Kipo basically sprinted to the couch and sat next to Hugo.

Hugo spent the next 2 hours recounting stories about them, what they were like, and how Kipo reminded him of them everyday.

Finally Hugo had ran out of stories to retell. Despite having known Lio and Song since he was a baby his stories were limited to the time they spent in his room and Hugo refused to tell Kipo about any of their interactions after he had been found out by Dr. Emilia. He also carefully avoided mentioning any other humans or the place they all lived in. He only described the room he used to live in.

"Wow, they sound amazing" Kipo said with wide eyes.

"Yes they wer- are" Hugo corrected himself last minute. Molly was right, he needed to be optimistic, if not for himself then for Kipo.

"I.... I wish I could've met them" Kipo said after a short silence. Hugo was a little surprised and really didn't know what to say but he didn't need to say anything since Kipo continued.

"I know it's stupid... missing people you've never met before but... I really do miss them.... I see all my friends run around and have fun with their parents and even though you do all that stuff with me I can't help but be a little jealous... I- I'm sorry big bro.... I know I shouldn't be upset about this but... but I am.... because... because you don't get to hang out with them anymore because you're taking care of me all the time.." Kipo said sadly and... were those tears in her eyes? Was Kipo blaming herself for Song and Lio not being there!?

"What? No no, Kipo it's not your fault that they aren't here" Hugo said frantically.

"But... but if you didn't have to take care of me you could go out and look for them for longer than a few hours a day. You could find them and be a happy family again...." Kipo said while wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Kipo, look at me. Song and Lio trusted me with your safety. I do miss them and wish they were here but I wouldn't trade you for the world. Every moment that I can be your older brother and take care of you I'm happy and that's enough for me" Hugo explained and Kipo nodded a little, still looking sad.

"Big bro? What.... happened them anyway? How did you get separated from them and your old home?" Kipo asked the question Hugo had been dreading. How was he going to answer this?

"Uh- well you see there were some.... bad people at our burrow.... they didn't like mutes very much and were very mean to me. They were going to be mean to you too because you're part mute so your parents tried to take us and run away but the mean people found them. They gave you to me and told me to go and protect you. I ran and.... I haven't seen them since" Hugo tried explaining.

"Do... do you think they are still out there?" Kipo asked.

"Yes. They are strong and smart just like you! They can do anything they put their minds to which includes getting away from those bad people" Hugo said and he found some part of him really believed those words.

"Okay! I hope I get to meet them some day!" Kipo said with determination shining in her magenta eyes.

"I'm sure you will and I'm sure they will- do love you very much" Hugo said with a small smile finding it's way on his face.

~~~

It was very dark here.

"Where am I?" Kipo said and her voice seemed to echo.

Then all her friends and the rest of the Timbercats appeared.

"Oh! Hey guys what are.... you..." Kipo trailed off when she saw who appeared on the opposite side. It was the two humans her older brother had described to her, their parents.

"Choose" Came a voice from the black void around them.

"Wha-what?" Kipo was confused. What was happening?

"Choose a side! Your mute family or your human one" the voice yelled. Kipo was scared. She couldn't just choose!

Then her beloved older brother appeared next to her.

"Big bro! Do you know what's going on? What does it mean.... by..." Kipo trailed off again when her older brother walked over to the side their parents were on.

"Choose" the voice demanded.

Why was this happening? Why did she have to choose? She didn't want to choose!

"B-but they're both my family! I can't choose!" Kipo yelled into the void.

"You have to" The voice repeated, ever persistent.

"No! I wont! We will all live in one big happy family! I can't pick one or the other!" Kipo yelled with her stubborn attitude.

"So be it then" the voice said and for a second Kipo hoped they wouldn't make her choose, then all her hopes were shattered.

"You will have no family. Instead being alone here forever. Not a human, not a mute, but someone who can't decide" the voice said and her parents and Hugo disappeared, she looked over to see that the Timbercats had disappeared too.

Kipo looked around franctically trying to find someone.

"Hey! No! That's not what I meant! Bring them back!" Kipo yelled but the voice did not answer or give any indication it was listening.

Kipo started running through the dark abyss, searching for people she could not find. Eventually she ran herself to exhaustion and collapsed into the blank floor, it was cold like metal and smooth like glass.

"Please.... I want my family back...." Kipo whispered as she finally let the tears that had been building up fall.

"I don't want to be alone...." Kipo said only to be heard by no one but the empty abyss.

Then she woke up

Kipo sat up with a start. Her breathing was quick and erratic. She looked around and found she wasn't in the empty black abyss but in her and her brother's home. She was sleeping soundly in her bed that was next to her brother's. She could see out the high up windows that it was still dark out. Her brother was sound asleep in his bed.

She slowly got out of her bed and carefully made her way downstairs without making any sounds. Kipo left her home and walked aimlessly around the village. The moon was bright in the night sky but the foliage of the canopy made it necessary for Kipo to use her jaguar eyes, though that had become an unconscious habit to use them when it was a little too dark to see clearly.

The whole village was asleep. All the lanterns were off. Kipo pretended she didn't see the cats that were supposed to guard the village at night napping away on their watch branches. 

Now Kipo was a very social and honest girl but she did have a secret that no one, not even her older brother or her closest friend Cinders knew. On one of the trees at the very edge of the village she had found a way to climb it all the way up past the canopy. She had made this discovery a few months ago when she couldn't sleep but didn't want to wake her brother.

Now everytime she couldn't sleep or woke up in the middle of the night she would go past the canopy and just hang out up there. Just her, her thoughts and the stars. And occasionally Kitkat since she had followed Kipo up there a few times and it seemed like that night was no exception.

Kitkat was a notoriously light sleeper so when Kipo walked last her little den she woke up and started following Kipo. She had grown so much in the last 2 years. Kipo could even ride her if she wanted to, though she had a two person limit since she wasn't a full adult centipede yet.

Kipo transformed her hands and climbed up the tree with her claws, Kitkat climbing by her side the whole time. Finally she made it too the top. The starry night sky would never cease to amaze her. The sight of millions of white dots in the inky black sky was always an amazing sight to see and the moon being full made the view all the more beautiful that night.

She sat down on the top of the surprisingly sturdy canopy and stared up at the sky for a while, the fur on her arms keeping her from feeling any cold breeze.

"Hey Kitkat, I know you can't talk but what would you do if you had to.... if you had to choose between me and Cinders?" Kipo asked the centipede that sat next to her. Kitkat just looked up at her with her beady black eyes which shimmered beautifully in the moonlight. 

"Heh, dumb question right?" Kipo said after some silence. Kitkat just layed her head on Kipo's lap.

"Oh you want strokies!?" Kipo asked with a smile as she pet the centipede's head.

She looked up from Kitkat and to the large amount of green canopy that showed just how big the forest was. She could barely see with her enhanced sight the decrepid city and sky scraper ridge in the distance.

"Wow.... the world is really big huh? Wonder how our parents are going to find us....." Kipo mumbled to herself. Then she looked back down at Kitkat.

"Keep a secret for me?" Kipo asked and Kitkat gave her trademark blank stare.

"I don't really.... want them to find us.... I mean I'm sure they are really nice! And very worried but.... if they do find us then things will change.... who knows, maybe they'll want us to go back to a burrow with them..... I don't want to lose this place, I grew up here! I do want to meet them but... I want... to stay with the people I've known my whole life more" Kipo confessed and as always Kitkat offered no judgement, just her blank stare.

"I feel all conflicted about this because I REALLY want to meet them, to have parents like everyone else! But I don't want.... I don't want to have to choose between them and the Timbercats" Kipo continued. After that a comfortable silence fell.

"Come on, let's get back down there" Kipo said as she spotted the sky starting to lighten to a blue, a warning of the coming sunrise. 

~~~

She didn't tell her brother about her nightmare

~~~

"Hey Kipo! Kipoooooooo! KIPO!" Cinders yelled to get her friend's attention. Kipo had been zoning out and acting quite distant the last few days.

"Huh- what? What is it Cinders?" Kipo asked, finally snapping out of her zoned out state.

"What's up? You've been zoning out alot these past few days. Something on your mind?" Cinders asked. She considered Kipo one of her closest friends, she knew when something was off and something was definitely off.

"Oh! It's nothing, just some dumb nightmare I had. It's just been coming to mind alot lately that's all" Kipo said with a smile which looked a bit strained. Cinders sat down next to Kipo.

"You.... wanna talk about it?" Cinders offered. Usually Kipo would love to talk and talk for hours and Cinders would always be happy to listen but this time Kipo just sighed.

"It's really nothing. I'm just being stupid thinking about it so much" Kipo said while looking down at her hands.

"What?! You're not stupid! You're one of the smartest Timbercats around!" Cinders tried to encourage her but Kipo just sighed again.

"That's the problem. I'm not a Timbercat!" Kipo said while suddenly standing up "I'm just a human that happens to live next to all of you...." Kipo said, she was facing away from Cinders so she couldn't see her expression.

"But- but it doesn't matter whether you're a cat or not! There are tones of other cat mutes but that doesn't make them Timbercats. What makes you a Timbercat is the fact that you're a part of our community and you're not just a human either! Remember you're part mute, part jaguar mute which is basically a big cat. So stop with all these thoughts that you're not a Timbercat or that you're 'just a human'! You're Kipo and that's all that matters-" Cinders rant was cut a little short by Kipo suddenly turning around and hugging her.

"Thank you" Kipo said as she hugged Cinders tight and after a moment of hesitation Cinders hugged Kipo back.

"But you know... you're wrong when you say I'm the smartest Timbercat" Kipo said as she released the hug "YOU'RE the smartest Timbercat" Kipo said with a beaming bright smile.

Cinders had said it many times before and she will say it many times again but she is so happy she is friends with Kipo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it's a little shorter than the last chapter
> 
> I really want to write more around Cinders and Kipo's friendship!


	11. Burrow humans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kipo is finally old enough to explore Timber cat territory outside the village, though she gets sidetracked and maybe a bit lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter rip

Through the forest leaves a lone cloaked figure was running. Jumping from tree branch to tree branch. They held an axe as they used it to help give them leverage on branches that might've been a little too thin for them to land on properly. Behind them followed a Timbercat kit of 11 years old.

"Kipo! Wait! Slow down!" Farris ended up stopping to catch his breath. Kipo who still had her hood up turned around and went back to Farris, landing on the same branch he had stopped at.

"What's up Farris? Didn't you do this a year ago?" Kipo asked as she pulled the hood of her cloak down. It had been a cool present from her brother on her 10th birthday a few weeks ago.

"Yes! But- h- how is it you can run so fast without a break Kipo!?" Farris asked, occasionally stopping to take a breath in the middle of his sentence.

"Well I'm just so excited! I can explore the outer territory all on my own for the first time! I got my axe finally!" Kipo exclaimed as she held up the axe. Every Timbercat kit was given their axe and allowed to go into the outer territory at age 10. Kipo's axe was also a guitar, at her request, and it's metal base was a purple with a black pattern which looked suspiciously like her jaguar fur pattern.

"Remember, Hugo asked me to accompany you and make sure you don't run into anything or anyone dange- aaaand she's gone.... welp I'm screwed" Farris said as he noticed Kipo had run off in the middle of his lecture.

~~~

Kipo was ecstatic! The forest was so much bigger than she ever thought. There were old world decrepit builds scattered around the forest that were mostly destroyed or overgrown but she still loved to explore them. She didn't even notice when she lost Farris, too caught up in the excitement of not being confided to the village anymore.

She at some point had transformed her legs to run faster and her eyes and ears to catch every little detail about the forest. Finally she tired out a bit and stopped to catch her breath. As she looked around the forest she realised something. It was not the same.

The Timbercat forest was full of large trees that dwarfed every creature that resided in it, with a thick canopy above that gave the undergrowth below filtered sun light. This forest, while still full of many trees, was more compact. The trees were still big but definitely not as huge as the ones of the Timbercat forest. The foliage was so thick that the light that filtered in was quite dark. Finally the undergrowth was not wild and full of life. Most of it seemed neatly cut down.

Grass cutter ant territory. At some point Kipo had left the Timbercat territory in her excitement and crossed into the neighbouring forest that was notorious for the grass cutter ants that resided in it. They werent the same kind of intelligent as the Timbercats or Scooterskunks. They were what were known as wild mutes. Mutes that acted more like their original animal counterparts and hadn't evolved their brains past the point they had been at 200 years ago. Whether this was because they were already perfectly adapted to living in the new world or because of dumb luck was the centre of many debates Kipo had with her brother but one thing she was sure of was that if you came across as a threat to these ants, they would swarm you.

Kipo got out of that forest as quickly as possible. She attempted to retrace her steps but the scent of ant completely overwhelmed her own scent and she ended up exiting into the abandoned city. It didnt seem like Scooterskunk territory which meant Kipo had 0 points of reference for where she was exactly.

She was so grounded when she got back home. Kipo got her axe ready, put her hood up because it looked cool, and went into the unknown territory. Her goal was to find a mute and ask for directions. Pretty simple right? But it seemed this particular part of the abandoned city really liked deadly plants. There was death ivy, venus flytrap (though bear trap would be more accurate), pitcher plant, nepenthes spathulata, even a shredder plant! Those ones were nasty from what Molly had told her. Many of the very dangerous plants looked surprisingly beautiful and Kipo had to attempt to navigate past them while not getting too close, a real challenge for her.

Finally Kipo found something remarkable. All the roads lifted upwards and created a sort of clover shape above the ground. It looked awesome and Kipo just had to admire it, at some point even turning back to a completely human appearance. She knew that she might've been able to get a better look from a higher vantage point but her thought process was suddenly derailed when she heard a gasp from behind her.

She turned around to see two people poking their heads out of a lifted sewer grate. They were both staring at her in awe.

"Asher look look! Are you looking?" One of the two said and the realisation slapped Kipo in the face. They were humans. OTHER HUMANS.

"OH MY GOD! Icantbelievethisimmeetingotherhumansforthefirsttimeandidontknowwhattosayordoyouguysarefriendlyrightareyoufromaburrow" Everything just spilled out of Kipo's mouth at once and she just couldn't contain her excitement.

"Look Dahlia, you broke them" the other said before lightly hitting the other over the head.

Kipo took in a sharp breath of air and gathered her thoughts before she spoke.

"Hello! My name is Kipo, I'm a human just like you guys and you cannot believe how excited I am to meet you!" Kipo said as she finally pulled her hood down.

"Cool! I surface human!" One of them, Dahliah, exclaimed.

"Is that what humans wear up here? It looks so comfy, like a snuggle blanky" the other, Asher, said while pointing at Kipo's cloak.

"It is pretty comfy" Kipo agreed as she looked at the black cloak.

"You two can come out of there if you want" Kipo offered, noticing they were still hiding under the slightly lifted sewer grate.

"Oh, we aren't allowed to go to the surface. It's really unsafe and dangerous" Asher said.

"Yeah and the sun will blind us!" Dahliah exaggerated and Kipo couldn't help but start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Asher asked.

"Sorry sorry! It's just the sun wont blind you! Unless you look at it for too long but that's like for an hour. Also the surface isn't THAT unsafe, I'm perfectly fine aren't I? And you technically are on the surface since you're poking you're head out of the sewer grate.

They both exchanged a look before fully removing the grate and climbing out. They looked around at the scenery in amazement for a second before focusing back on Kipo.

"I'm Asher by the way!" Asher introduced themselves.

"Yeah, and I'm Dahliah! Were siblings if you couldn't tell" Dahliah elaborated.

"Cool! I have a sibling too! Oh! Hugo most be so worried!" Kipo exclaimed as she remembered she was still very lost.

"Do you live up here with other humans?" Asher asked.

"Oh! Do you live nearby? Maybe you could come see our burrow sometime!" Dahliah said, suddenly very excited.

"Um... actually you guys are the first humans I've ever met. I'm kinda lost from my home really so I'm not sure if its close but I would love to see your burrow!" Kipo explained.

"Wait but what about your sibling?" Dahliah asked and Asher looked equally confused.

"He um- well we're not biologically related. He is a mute but- but he still my brother! He practically raised me!" Kipo clarified.

"Wow, a human raised by mutes? That sounds awesome!" Asher said and Dahliah nodded along.

"Yeah! Are there any weird mute trasitions or things you've picked up?" Dahliah asked.

"What? No! Mutes are just like humans, apart from some small differences but we all think and act generally the same.... well it's not like I would know much since I've never met any other humans..." Kipo mumbled.

"Well then consider us your first human friends!" Dahliah exclaimed.

"Yeah! If you want to be friends that is" Asher followed up.

"Yes! That would be so awesome! Oh you should meet Hugo and Cinders and all the other mutes in Timbercat village! And-" Kipo was going to go on a tangent when Asher cut her off.

"Kipo that sounds great but didn't you say you were lost?" Asher asked and Kipo wanted to facepalm.

"Right.... I need to get home before dark" Kipo said as she looked around for any indication of mutes she could ask for directions.

"Well our burrow is under the big clover!" Dahliah said, pointing to the elevated roads.

"You should come visit after you find your home. We snuck out through an old sewer tunnel we found behind some rocks. We actually really shouldn't be here and need to get home" Asher said while glancing at the sewer they came from.

"I'll be sure to come back then. See you soon hopefully!" Kipo said with a wave as the two went back into the sewer.

"Hope you get home safe!" Dahliah said before closing the sewer grate over them.

Kipo just stood there with a small content smile on her face before she remembered she was lost.

"Right! Need to get home!" Kipo said as she picked a direction and started walking in it.

After maybe another hour walk she found a Scooterskunk patrol. They thankfully led her back to the Timbercat forest and she said her goodbyes to them before venturing in to get back to the village.

The moment she entered the village she saw Farris pacing back and forth.

"If I tell Hugo he'll kill me. Molly and Yumyan will be so disappointed. This is a mess" Farris was too far into his mumbling to notice Kipo come up to him and he was very startled when Kipo put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Farris" Kipo said casually.

"Kipo! Do you know how worried I was! I just got back to the village after looking for you for so long! Promise me you wont tell Hugo I lost you. He. Will. Kill. Me" Farris said while shaking Kipo's shoulders. Kipo just chuckled and smiled at his antics.

"I promise!" She said like Farris' life didn't depend on it before casually walking into the village and back to her home.

Hugo greeted her as she came in and then Molly came in for a guitar lesson.

The thought of telling Hugo about the burrow humans she met completely slipped her mind as she settled back into the regular village routine for the rest of the day.

~~~

"Professor Oak! You will not believe what happened!" Dahliah said as she raced up to her professor. It was a not so well kept secret that professor Oak had been to the surface at least once to be able to know all he knew about astronomy and old world stuff.

"Oh? What is it Dahliah?" He asked as he turned around to face her. She has spotted him while he was taking a walk and she just couldn't not tell him as the only person with some insight into the surface, even if Asher would definitely lecture her about it later.

"So me and Asher found this old sewer tunnel behind some rocks and we sort of went through it and found an exit to the surface but that doesnt matter- what matters is that we met a surface human!" Dahliah exclaimed and she missed how professor Oak's expression turned to one of fear.

"She was really nice and she told us about what mutes were like and- and she had to get home but me and Asher wanted to meet her again cause were kind of friends now and-" Dahliah's word vomit was interrupted by professor Oak.

"Dahliah, you and Asher should NEVER go to the surface again. That human you met, she was dangerous and probably lied to you. Don't believe her" Professor Oak insisted and he sounded so serious that Dahliah could only nod.

"Good, I hope you understand" Then professor Oak left.

"But I didn't even tell him her name...." Dahliah said, still shell shocked by the seriousness in her usually carefree and happy teacher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh poor Lio. He thought she was taking about Emilia.
> 
> Dahliah seems like the kind of person to word vomit right? I get that vibe and that Asher is the more serious of the two.
> 
> Farris stop losing the energetic child!


	12. Plans for the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Precursor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE 
> 
> R E T U R N E D

"Let me set the scene for you, it was a cold and dark night. The leaves on the trees were too thick for any moonlight so it was pitch black. Then in the silence... CAME A GIANT LEAF CUTTER ANT QUEEN!" Kipo shouted suddenly.

The reactions she got to her 'horror' story varied.

Cinders and Farris of course both fell over screaming.

Jacks tried to play it cool but he had obviously flinched.

And Rayla.... well Rayla's blank expression was more terrifying than the story itself.

"Okay you 5, time for bed" Hugo called from where he sat reading a book at the dining table. The sleepovers had become more and more common ever since Kipo had turned 11 not too many weeks ago. She had insisted she was a big girl and could be responsible around her friends.

"Come on bro! 5 more minutes?" Kipo pleaded but Hugo knew it was already 10 minutes past the kits bedtime.

"How about I make you a deal?" Hugo offered and that caught everyone's attention immediately.

"You wont have a bed time any more when you turn..... 13" Hugo said and Kipo's giddy expression immediately dropped.

"What! But that's 2 years from now!" She complained but Hugo just grinned smugly at her.

"Then you'll have to wait 2 years to be able stay up 15 minutes past 9. Now off to bed all 5 of you!" Hugo said, still smiling smugly. The 5 kits protested but went upstairs anyway.

~~~

"Hey Kipo, you asleep?" Cinders whispered and Kipo turned over to face her a little better.

"No, why'd you ask?" Kipo asked.

"I wanted to ask... are you curious? About what's out there. Not just in the outer territory but beyond that" Cinders asked and Kipo took no time at all to answer.

"Yes. When I grow up and get big and strong I'm going to go explore the whole world" Kipo whispered back.

"Can I come?" Cinders asked.

"Of course"

~~~

"Wow you're getting really good at that!" Cinders said as she approached Kipo after one of her training sessions. Kipo had fully mastered the guitar and piano so she dedicated the new spare time she had to training her mute abilities.

"Yeah! It's much easier now!" Kipo said while sitting down next to KitKat.

KitKat was now nearly an adult centipede and was easily big enough for 3 full grown Timbercats to ride. She had also become best friends with Pierre in recent times even though beforehand it seemed they had a small rivalry.

"Hmm" Cinders crouched down to KitKat's eye level and stared into those empty beady eyes.

"I think KitKat wants to come along too!" Cinders exclaimed suddenly.

"What? Where?" Kipo asked, sitting a little more upright.

"When we leave to travel the world! We should take KitKat with us!" Cinders said with excitement sparkling in her eyes.

"Yeah!" Kipo replied, a big goofy smile appearing on her face.

~~~

"What are you two doing?" Hugo asked as he walked into his and Kipo's home.

Kipo and Cinders, plus KitKat, were sprawled out on the floor. There were papers and books around them and Kipo started hastily piling all of them together so they weren't as spread out.

"Oh we were planning for-" Cinders was saying but she was cut off by Kipo.

"Jacks' birthday party! Yeah! Cinders was having trouble thinking of a gift for her dear brother" Kipo said and there was something crooked in the way she smiled.

"Really? Isn't that 2 months from now?" Hugo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well of course she needs to be ready bro! She can't just get it last minute!" Kipo insisted. Hugo was honestly quite tired from his trek into the city that day so he shrugged the slightly strange behaviour off and went upstairs to take a nap.

~~~

"Why didn't you tell Hugo about us planning for when we're older?" Cinders asked as Hugo disappeared upstairs.

Kipo sighed.

"Bro is... really overprotective of me" Kipo said like it would explain everything but Cinders just gave her an 'obviously' face so she elaborated "Sometimes it seems he really just wants to keep me here in the village forever. He is always super nervous whenever I go into the outer territory or too the Scooterskunks. If I'm back even a minute late he'll ground me. I just think he would freak out if he knew I wanted to travel when I'm older" Kipo explained.

"Oooohhh, yeah that makes sense... don't worry, I wont tell him if you don't want to" Cinders reassured and Kipo cracked a smile at her friend.

~~~

"Happy birthday too you!" Everyone sang and Kipo blew out her 12th birthday candles.

"Yes! One year closer to no bedtime!" Kipo exclaimed and Molly couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at that statement.

"Now time for cake?" Cinders asked.

"CAKE CAKE CAKE!" Yumyan shouted. He loved Kipo like she was his own kit but everyone knew his favourite part of her birthdays was the cake that Hugo specialy prepared only that one time a year.

"Yums! The birthday girl goes first" Molly said, using the silly nickname that Kipo still hadn't stopped using till that day.

The party was a success like it was every year.

So many games and talking and just having fun with everyone, Kipo almost wished that her birthday days would never end, almost.

At the end of the celebration Kipo got to lay in her bed with only one thought echoing through her head.

"I wouldn't trade this for the world"

~~~

It was that time of the year again.

A constant reminder every year that always brought him great sorrow.

It was Kipo's birthday.

The Kipo he could only hope was still alive on the surface with Hugo, that he hoped Dr Emilia hadn't found.

12 years.

12 years since he lost them.

Lio felt like a coward for hiding in this burrow and not going out there to find his daughter and son. He knew Song, if she was there, would lecture him profusely but he wasn't the determined young man he used to be.

His leg was too badly maimed from that shredder plant and he needed a cane to get around properly. He was in no shape to go to the surface.

So, like he did every year, he pushed aside his grief and sorrow, he pushed aside the nightmares and terrible thoughts of what had happened to those two young children they had sent out into a dangerous and unforgiving world. He pushed everything aside, put on a smile and taught his classes like normal.

At the end of the lesson though one of his students approached him.

"Uh- professor Oak?" Troy said, unsure.

"Yes Troy? Did you have any problems with the material?" He asked, trying desperately to keep his mind on teaching and not.... other things.

"No, it's not that, it's just. Every year you always seem really sad on this specific day. So I decided to try and cheer you up by making you some brownies" Troy said while holding a tupper, probably full brownies, up.

"I know I'm not the best cook, I'm honestly better with pancakes, but I hope you like them" Troy said, still slightly nervous.

"Thank you Troy. This is very thoughtful and I'm sure they're delicious" Lio replied while taking the brownies, trying to give a reassuring smile to his student.

"No problem!" Troy said before making a swift exit.

Lio could only really stare blankly at the delicious sweets. He couldn't stomach them. Not with the thought eating at the back of his mind at how Kipo and Hugo may never get the chance to have this kind of delicious meal, not even on her birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is that last chapter of the "Childhood" arc. Next chapter is when we start getting into the canon stuff and meet some familiar faces


End file.
